I Never Apologised to Oritsejafor, Oyedepo, Others — Pastor Dikwa

By Iliya Kure

Kaduna (Nigeria) — Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement (VNCM), Pastor Musa Dikwa, has faulted media reports that he has apologised to Pastor Oritsejafor, Oyedepo, and others, as claimed by Pastor Bosun Emmanuel at a press conference in Abuja.

“One fellow called Bosun Emmanuel told news reporters that, I Pastor Musa Dikwa, apologised to him about the N7 billion bribe that they collected during the 2015 general election from former President Jonathan. I want to state clear that I never met Bosun Emmanuel in my life, but I knew one friend of Bosun, called Rev. Isaac O. Wusu, working with one International Christian Organisation [Voice of Christian Martyrs], which says it provides relief to Boko Haram victims and other victims of religious crises.

Pastor Dikwa says he still maintains his position on the N7 billion campaign money, adding that “not only money were they given, but also Toyota Jeeps – about nine. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor took 2; Rev. Musa Asake, the General Secretary took 1; Rev. Emmanuel Dziggau took 1; Rev. Okoye took 1 and others shared the rest.”

“I wrote ICPC since September last year, they said they will call me to adopt the letter, up till now I am still waiting.”

He told AFRICA PRIME NEWS that the purported press conference by Pastor Bosun was to smear his name (Dikwa) and integrity over their (Bosun and Co) untoward behaviour that is shameful to the body of Christ.

“If the meeting he was talking about took place in August 2015, what took him seven months to come out to talk? It means, he is hiding something.

“He organised the press conference simply because I attacked their motive in the recent kidnap of Christian leaders in Kaduna.

“When I saw what Bosun posted (on the internet), I quickly challenged it and sent the information to the security agencies to arrest Bosun, Oritsejafor, Asake and Oibe, because they knew something about the kidnap of TEKAN/ECWA leader and truly they are the ones who planned that. Bosun is trying to cover their criminality through creating lies”

According to Pastor Dikwa, the posting by Pastor Bosun says “It is believed that the kidnap is not unconnected with subterranean moves being made by some forces in the country to influence the election of the next president of CAN. The incumbent President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, is expected to leave Office in July 2016. Rev. Dr. Dziggau, according to people close to him, has consistently resisted pressures to support undue the next President of CAN, a stand which has drawn the anger of some Christians in government. He has been heard to express his neutrality openly..”
The Jos Meeting

“The meeting he was talking about, was totally unrelated to the money issue. I raised a corruption matter with Voice of Christian Martyrs, who says it deliver relief items to victims of Boko Haram. Being an indigene of Borno, I am not happy that someone collects money in the name of my kinsmen and not serving them well. So this man, Rev. Isaac came to Jos with his group, about a year ago, and pleaded with me, that I should not expose the matter to the press, or take them to EFCC – that I should give him time, so that he can dismiss the people that looted the NGO funds, and this is what Isaac did. He dismissed 2 persons that looted the NGO money, and sized their properties in Jos!

After Rev. Isaac ceased the properties of the 2 persons in Jos. Some of them that were working in the office of the International Christian Organisation in Jos, came to me and told me that even Rev. Isaac has looted the NGO money and bought properties in Lagos and Abekuta, Ogun State.

After I met Rev. Isaac and his group andI left, one of their members later told me that Bosun Emmanuel was among them.

“The NGO has its headquarters in the US, but the Nigerian branch is headed by one Isaac who led the delegation that came to see me. I am from Borno, and I discovered that what they were doing was just collecting money in the name of these victims and buying property for themselves. I said I was going to report them to EFCC and the parent NGO, so they came begging. Isaac said, he was going to take action, and he fired two of the directors. These are things anyone can go and verify.

“All this things Bosun Emmanuel is doing is to cover their corrupt activities and I’ll like to advise the members of this type of Church leaders that let them know the type of criminals leaders that they have in their Churches!

“Why are people using God’s name and rubbishing people? Bosun accused APC during the last campaign/election that APC is a branch of Egypt’s Brotherhood Party and APC will Islamise Nigeria; I have the CD.

“I am calling on Nigerian Christians to be careful with some of the people that are using Church and Bible to do business for personal interest in the name of preachers.” He said

The Abuja Press Conference by Pastor Bosun

On Thursday, Pasotr Bosun Emmanuel in a press confernce in abuja told reporters that Pastor Musa Dikwa had in a private meeting admitted lying against the CAN leadership on collecting N 7 billion, and apologised to the leadership.

Below is a full text of Pastor Emmanuel’s statement at the Abuja press conference.

“It would be recalled that during the electioneering campaign leading to the 2015 elections, Musa Dikwa addressed a press conference in which he claimed three ministers of the gospel, the President of CAN (Oritsejafor), Bishop David Oyedepo, and myself [Pastor Bosun Emmanuel] received N7 billion from the Jonathan administration to mobilise ministers of the gospel nationwide to campaign for his re-election.

“The story was started by the former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi who claimed the sum of N6 billion was given to pastors to campaign for Jonathan’s re-election. It was the story of Amaechi that Musa Dikwa latched onto and insisted that it was not N6 billion but N7 billion and proceeded to mention the names of the three ministers of the gospel. As we could recall, Rotimi Amaechi was the director of the campaign for the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, now President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We met Musa Dikwa personally in Jos on Wednesday 12th August, 2015. I sat directly facing him for almost three hours and Musa Dikwa did not know he was talking to the pastor he lied against. We were interested in finding out, “Were you there when the money was being shared”? No, he was not.

“Was the money shared in Naira?” “No, it was in dollars”. It was the conversion that made it N7 billion. “So, if you were not there, how did you know money was being shared and the purpose for which it was shared?” He was informed by a CAN official in Abuja who told him to come quickly and collect his own share.

“Ironically, the CAN official Musa Dikwa mentioned as the informant was also one of the people who got Musa Dikwa arrested by DSS for carrying unsubstantiated story, and the same man is also one of the five respondents in the N300 million suit of Musa Dikwa against Department of State Security Services (DSS). (He gave us photocopies) The big question is, if the man Musa mentioned as the source of the N7 billion Naira story is truly the source, why would the same man invite DSS to arrest him, and why would Musa join the man as a respondent in a N300 million lawsuit? Musa Dikwa claimed that the DSS violated his Human Rights by arresting him.

“Now, see who is heading for court? What right does he have to complain of the violation of his rights? What if I should sue Musa Dikwa N500 million for defamation of character?

“Anyway, he apologised for including the name of Pastor Bosun Emmanuel in the story and even assured us that he would call another press conference to clear Pastor Bosun. So far, he has not done that. The implication is that even the inclusion of CAN President and Bishop Oyedepo in the campaign of calumny could also be false.

“The following day, 13th August, 2015, Musa came again to meet us at our lodging and disclosed the name of the person who specifically instructed him to include my name. He mentioned the name of one of the APC pastors based in Lagos. So it became clear what happened. My name was included to discredit the WAKE UP CALL CD, while, (I think) Bishop Oyedepo was included because he came out openly to declare support for Jonathan and the president of CAN was mentioned to divide the church. It was a classical APC campaign by deception.

“It is not impossible that some clerics collected money to campaign for politicians on both sides during the elections. That could have happened amongst Muslim clerics and Christian clergy. But, this N7 billion story is hogwash. I can say categorically that I have never collected a kobo from a politician or government official in my life to do Christian ministry. Musa Dikwa LIED against me, but thank God, he confessed.

“For now, I will allow the issue to rest and I will encourage Musa Dikwa to remember all the admonitions and counsel that ministers of the gospel gave him during the meeting. A member of the body cannot be doing injury to the body. Peddling false information is not a Christian virtue.”

Sign: Pastor Bosun Emmanuel
March 24, 2016