One of the most vociferous critics of the immediate-past President Goodluck Jonathan and General Overseer of Household of God Church, Rev. Chris Okotie, has come under fire over comments he made during a sermon in his Church, at Ikeja, Lagos, alleging that the President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, convinced Jonathan with a “false” prophecy which prompted him to contest the last presidential election.
Jonathan lost to candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
During the sermon, Okotie was credited to have said that ex-President Jonathan had initially made up his mind not to throw his hat into the ring for the election, but Oritsejafor “deceived” him with tales of victory as prophesied unto him by God.
Taking a swipe at Okotie, the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) said it read with sorrow and much regret the statement credited to him on Sunday, October 25, 2015.
In a statement signed by its chairman, Solomon Asemota (SAN), the NCEF, said “Since Rev. Okotie has not issued a retraction of the news report, it would be assumed that he made the statements credited to him.
“The Reverend gentleman shall be required, through the PFN bloc, to kindly inform the Nigerian Church “where and when” the President of CAN made the “false prophecy” he alluded to and why he believed such unedifying information should form part of the gospel from his pulpit.
“In view of the many challenges facing the Nigerian church, it has become necessary to appeal to Christians, particularly, the ministers of the gospel, to be circumspect about utterances concerning other Christians, in particular, the person and the office of the President of Christian Association of Nigeria.
“It would be necessary to remind Christians that CAN is the official institution representing Christian interests in Nigeria and any attempt by any Christian to ridicule or weaken CAN, is a disservice to the Lord and to His Church.
“The Bible makes it clear that there would necessarily be disagreements among us and God in His wisdom has outlined steps for Christians to manage and resolve conflicts. (Matt. 18: 15 – 17). Christians should desist from slanders and false accusations. “We did not so learn from Christ”. (Eph. 4: 20)
“Nigerian Christians should be reminded that the Nigerian Church has a lot of enemies bent on “eradicating” the Church in all of its “ramifications”. It is no longer a secret that these enemies use “operatives”, within and outside the Church to spread false reports, accusations and divisive statements to divide the church and weaken Christianity. Much of the contention in the Church has been traced to the nefarious activities of these “operatives”, many of whom pretend to be Christians. (2 Cor. 11: 13 – 15) Satan knows full well that a house that is divided cannot stand,” it said.
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