By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna
Kaduna Patriotic Youths for Development (KYPD) has lampooned a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Nasiru Ahmed el-Rufa’I, over his recent comments that disparaged the personality of President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Kaduna, the National Coordinator and General Secretary of the group, Mr. Danladi Husseini Abubakar, and Ishaku Kefas Irimiya, respectively, said the former minister’s comments was a direct attack on all Christians in the country as well as the Church of God.
The group said: “It is unfortunate that the former minister has remained consistent in his quest to smear the CAN President and indeed the Church of God. This is not the first time el-Rufa’i has deployed verbal venom and obvious deep hate for the CAN leader and indeed the organisation and community he leads.
“We view El-Rufa’i’s penchant for using abusive and berating statements against CAN leadership as a crass display of arrogance and disrespect for the entire Christian Community in Nigeria which Pastor Oritsejafor leads. The former Minister is known for his disrespect for elders and leaders at all levels in this country, little wonder why he has no one to guide his actions which are becoming inimical to the credibility of his own personality as an accidental elite.”
KYPD said the former Minister’s audacity in calling the CAN President ‘irresponsible’ is a reminder of his ‘tyrannical’ reign as minister of the FCT adding “Nigerians will never forget how El-Rufai flouted court injunctions to indiscriminately demolish homes while rendering thousands of families homeless including the highly respected late Justice Bashir Sambo, whom he threw out of his home in the middle of a storm.”
The group calls on the former minister to retract all his negative comments and desist from using abusive words against the leadership of CAN in future.
“We also call on the leadership of CAN and indeed all Christians in Nigeria to ignore el-Rufa’i. His noise is mere show of desperation from a man lacking direction while lost in the wilderness.”
