Christian Association of Nigeria describes Buhari's aide Onochie as an Esau who has sold her birthright

CHRISTIAN Association of Nigeria (Can) Reverend Samson Ayokunle has likened President Muhammadu Buhari's special assistant on social media Lauretta Onochie to the biblical Esau who sold her birthright for a mess of porridge.

Ms Onochie, a Christian from Delta State has been one of the president's fiercest defenders, taking to social media to attack his critics, sometime using very robust language. Urging her to tread with caution yesterday, Reverend Ayokunle counselled Ms Onochie to employ decorum in performing her duties instead of acting like an urchin who has strayed into the corridors of power.

In addition, Reverend Ayokunle called on President Buhari to restrain Ms Onochie on her use of vulgar words, abuse and unprintable names against others. According to Reverend Ayokunle, Can frowns at the use of vulgar language on social media by the presidential aide on her Twitter account.

In her latest Tweet against Can, Ms Onochie had said: “Prime Minister Theresa May, a Christian, is in a mosque doing what humans go to do in a place of worship. She knows that her God is the same one also called Allah, Can of worms, here’s a great lesson in love and godliness, not hatred and anger."

Reverend Ayokunle responded: “The failure of the presidency in calling her to order is capable of making the leadership believe that she is expressing the mind of the presidency. Onochie, from all indications, shares a lot of things in common with Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal.

"She is also like Eliab, who was not ready to stand up against Goliath, who had defied the God of Israel but was burning with anger at David who would not allow Goliath to continue insulting God and His people. Instead of asking the Can leadership to borrow a leaf from the British prime minister, Onochie should have directed her advice to her principal to emulate his British counterpart as the British prime minister gives all the citizens under her watch a sense of belonging and adequate security, irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political persuasions.”

According to the Can president, instead of being a liability to the church in the corridors of power, Ms Onochie should learn from the likes of Moses, Esther, Daniel and the other three Hebrew children. He added that they sacrificed their conveniences and risked their influential opportunities to defend the interest of God’s people against the imperial orders.

Reverend Ayokunle said the problems of irritants like Ms Onochie in the corridors of power is that the truth cannot be buried forever, especially in today’s world where no government has monopoly of the media with the emergence of the global technological communication, especially the social media. He said the world is aware of how Christians are being killed on a daily basis, while the security agencies seem to be looking elsewhere.

Furthermore, the Can president counselled the presidential aide to walk away from the path trodden by Cain and stop embracing Balaam’s blunder for personal profit. Reverend Ayokunle restated that Can would never cease to speak truth to power, irrespective of the unguarded utterances made by Ms Onochie.

In a related development, the United Young Professionals, maintained its stand that Ms Onochie, must be relieved of her position by President Buhari. In a reaction to Ms  Onochie's response to their earlier call for her sack, the national coordinator of the group, Adewole Kehinde, berated her for describing the group as jobbers, who want easy money.