The dust raised by the recent satanic tweet about Jesus Christ by former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, appears destined to last longer.

Rather than show remorse, el-Rufai this afternoon reacted angrily to the criticisms of the Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN), dismissing the body under the watch of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as a mere megaphone of the present Nigerian government and the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a comment he posted on Twitter and Facebook early this afternoon, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) chieftain said: “The CAN under Oritsejafor has become the propaganda arm of a looting govt. & the PDP. They represent themselves & can threaten no one.”

News Express reports that CAN had taken exception to penultimate Sunday’s retweeting of a joke by el-Rufai insinuating that the sinless Christ had sex with a family friend.

Though he later apologised, the former minister, who is known as a devout Muslim, soon cast doubt on the sincerity of his apology by sharing a tweet lambasting critics of the vile joke as “d juvenile mixture of people who take d internet seriously and people who just like trouble.”

El-Rufai’s latest tirade is apparently in response to the CAN statement of yesterday entitled “We cannot guarantee El-Rufai’s safety next time.” Signed by CAN National, Rev. Dr. Musa Asake, General Secretary, the statement read:

‘The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN has noted with serious concern the unrepentant and unremorseful conduct of the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in respect of the inflammatory and utterly disgraceful comment he made about the Christian faith and the person of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Inspite of our warning that he should stop such comments that carry chains of implications, El-Rufai has gone ahead to post another response which is insulting to the Christian faith.

‘Last Thursday, a day after our reaction to his damningly insulting comment, he retweeted as follows: “To those who see clearly, whose minds are not clouded by sheer religiosity, there is nothing insulting about the tweet”.

‘With this retweet, CAN believes that El-Rufai is set on a war path with the millions of Christians in Nigeria. We must state that unlike others, Christians do not shed blood, take life, kill or maim others at the slightest provocation. Nevertheless, we must warn El-Rufai not to take Christians for granted and to inform him that it is with great difficulty that we have had to restrain our youths from taking the law into their hands; which by extension means bringing El-Rufai to justice on account of his incitement and insult against the Christian faith. We may not be able to guarantee this restraint the next time he makes any other explosive statement that impugns on the Person of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is, again, warned to desist from playing this dangerous and deadly game of Russian roulette.

‘A word, they say, is enough for the wise.’

•Photo: Controversy-loving el-Rufai.