Religion Section | 6 April 2015 13:18 CET

Borno pastor : I didn’t beg Oritsejafor over N7bn bribe

By Abdulgafar Alabelewe

Borno State-based Pastor Kallamu Mus-Dikwa yesterday accused the wife of Christian Association of Nigeria's (CAN) President, Pastor Ayo Oristejafo, of lying against him that he came to beg her husband over the alleged N7 billion collected from President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the presidential election.

Pastor Dikwa had accused CAN of collecting N7 billion from President Jonathan to purportedly campaign against the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in the rescheduled elections.

The cleric, in a telephone in Kaduna, said he had not “set his eyes on the CAN president for over a year now, let alone going to beg him as claimed by his wife”.

He also denied meeting Pastor Oritsejafor's wife, challenging her to tell the world where and how he met her husband to beg for forgiveness over what he said he had no regret over.

The pastor urged the CAN leadership to “as a matter of urgency resign peaceful and sin no more and stop tarnishing the image of Nigerian Christians”.

He called on “real men of God to come forward and dissolve the CAN leadership before it was too late”, if it refused to abide by his appeal.

The cleric noted that he was not surprise at the antics of the wife of the CAN leader to blackmail him since other means to arm-twist him to meet the CAN president had failed.

Dikwa added: “I have not seen Pastor Oritsejafor for the past one and half years. They are the ones that have been sending emissaries to me for settlement, but I have always refused to go.

“The wife (Oritsejafor's) is lying. I have never seen Ayo's wife in my life. They have used the DSS (Directorate of State Service) to force me to write statements. They are lying against their spirits and their God.

“Let them bring witness (proof) that I went to beg Ayo. Is it in Abuja or Warri?.

“They have been sending men of God to me for settlement. The CAN's North Central Zone Chairman, Yakubu Pam, even told me that I should go and meet Ayo and that he talked to him. But I refused.

“Many of them (Christian leaders) have been calling me asking me to meet the CAN leader and settle. And I said what for? In fact, they said I should not talk again and that they know that all I have been saying is true.

“Even they have called me, requesting that I denounced that they collected money and that they are going to give me money. But I refused.”

Dikwa warned the president-elect, Gen Muhammad Buhari, to be wary of the CAN leadership.

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