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‘No Case Exists Against Pastor Oritsejafor’ – Buhari’s Corruption Advisor Reveals

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The chairman of President Muhammadu Buhari’s corruption advisory committee, Professor Itse Sagay has said that there is no existing case against the Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Oritsejafor, who is president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has come under intense social media attacks in recent weeks from the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters who allude that he would be arrested and charged for corruption.

In 2014, $9.3 million cash was found on a private jet flying into South Africa. On board the plane which was found to be registered to Oritsejafor where two Nigerians and an Israeli. It was later revealed that the cash was legitimate funds meant for the purchase of arms for the war against Boko Haram.

The South African government seized the cash at the time because its movement was in breach of the country’s money laundering laws. However, after diplomatic engagement by the Nigerian government, South Africa released the seized cash to the Nigerian government.

That episode revealed the efforts being made by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to procure arms and ammunition to wage the war against terrorism.

Oritsejafor had accepted being the owner of the private jet, but he said he had nothing to do with the transaction or the trip. The respected cleric had shown proof that he has leased out the plane to a company who was running a private jet hire service.

“I leased the aircraft on August 2, 2014 to a company to run it. It was the company that entered into an agreement with the people who carried out the transfer of funds. Having leased the aircraft to the Green Coast Produce Company Limited, any transaction undertaken with the aircraft can no longer be attached to me,” Oritsejafor told the press.

Sagay, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, speaking with The Punch on Thursday, January 7, 2015 said that although he feels that the process for the purchase of the arms in the black market was not transparent, he said that Oritsejafor’s explanation on how his jet was chartered for the trip was acceptable.

“The plane was on charter, so he can very well claim that he had no idea what was being taken on board and he probably was not the one that came to that agreement,” Sagay said. “I am not saying that he knew nothing about it but he had a company and ideally, his employees would be the ones to make all the arrangements.”

He went on to explain the nature of the arms transaction, “But what they were doing in that transaction was irregular; it wasn’t stealing. They were going to use the money to buy arms. They were not supposed to do it in that manner. They were supposed to do it through normal bank transfers. So, what happened was irregular but I don’t think the money was stolen.”

In 2014, when the story hit the media, online supporters of the APC were the fiercest critics of Pastor Oritsejafor, with some calling for his arrest and resignation as the president of CAN. Current governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai was in the forefront of the social media campaign against the Christian cleric.

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