- Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor says he was not prepared to head PFN and CAN but suddenly found himself in he various positions
- Oritsejafor explained that he was made the president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) at a meeting
- He added that he became CAN's president after some Christian leaders from the north paid him a visit
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the immediate past president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has revealed those behind his emergence as the head of the outspoken religious organisation.
Oritsejaor, whose tenure as head of the organisation witnessed some controversies, said he was pressured upon to become the president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and late CAN.
In an interview with Vanguard, the church leader said he was not prepared to head the PFN, but that the responsibility suddenly fell on him at a meeting.
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“I am among the few people who never seek and desire any position in life. I became president of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in an incredible way.
“I went to attend a National Advisory Council meeting of PFN (the highest decision making body of PFN) and it was at that meeting I was told that I am the president of PFN.
“It has never been done that way but that is my life. I went to a meeting and ended up becoming the president.
“When I called my wife, Mama Helen, and told her about it, she said I must be joking because before I left the house, I told her that I was going for a meeting and not to contest for any position.
“So I answered her that I was not joking and that it’s the truth, and that was how I became president of PFN and I held the position for two tenures, eight years,” he said.
Oritsejafor further noted while he was still president of PFN, he headed the CPFN/PFN bloc in CAN and continued with his charity programmes in the northern region, especially in areas ravaged by terrorism.
“When Boko Haram started, I went to Maiduguri, I would charter airplane to carry stuff there.
“I also went to Bauchi, Jos, Kaduna and different places in the North and I would give them clothing, food and all kinds of material stuff.
“Suddenly people from the ECWA bloc and not quite long, the president of ECWA came to visit me here in Warri.
“The people from that bloc really don’t believe much in Pentecostals, so I asked them what they came for, they responded, saying I should become president of CAN.
“I said they must be kidding because first of all, I’m not interested, secondly I was already the president of PFN that I have a lot on my hands, so they said that those of them from the north have prayed and looked at it and they strongly felt that I am the right person that can lead the church in this country at that time.
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“I thanked them and told them that those were very good flattering words and that I received them. I said: ‘thank you very much, God bless you, goodbye’.”
He later emerged CAN’s president.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, on Saturday, November 11, revealed the full details of the organisation’s demands to President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Source: Naija.ng