The outgoing National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has dared Pentecostal Ministers in the country to question the wealth of their members. Oritsejafor charged the Ministers while speaking at the 12th biennial conference of the PFN which took place on Friday night in the Akwa Ibom State capital, Uyo. Oritsejafor said: “We must be ready to give an account for ourselves and therefore we will no longer tolerate criminals in the Church of God. Men of God, you must be ready to question the source of members wealth.”
He expressed disgust on the level of corruption in the country, saying it was totally disheartening when he read the report of a man who stole about N23 billion Police Pension Fund saying ‘he only stole N23 billion.’ Oritsejafor said that the prosecution of Churches in Northern Nigeria can not be linked to Boko Haram alone.
He alleged that there has been a deliberate act to silence the Church in the North long before the emergence of Boko Haram, stating that it is common knowledge that despite the pretence to one brotherhood in the country, no church in that region has been given a certificate of occupancy in the last 30 years. “I stand to be corrected, there is no university campus in the North where Christian students are allowed to worship their God without harassment,” he said.
He however encouraged Christians in the North not to run away. “They are doing everything to squeeze you out your God-given land in the North, but I urge you to stay. Don’t run away, the Church in the South will stand by you. Don’t compromise because of persecution. God will stand by you,” he said, adding that as God rose on behalf of Daniel, Joseph and many others in the Bible, so God will stand by the Christians in the North.
In other news, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has announced Reverend Felix Omobude as the new President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN, he made the announcement on Friday, February 8, 2013 at the end of PFN’s 12th national biennial conference held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom. Oritsejafor was the PFN president for three years.