On Sunday, the Christian Association of Nigeria declared its independence from the purported N2 billion that Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, allegedly donated to churches under its umbrella.
The Christian organization also declared that it will look into the origin of the petition that contained the claim, labeling its information as false and nasty.
The petition was supposedly drafted by Pastor Frank Onwumere and was sent to the CAN President on December 15, 2022.
According to the petitioner, several mega-churches split the N2 billion while other denominations were ignored.
Onwumere, whose name was listed as the petition’s author, however, denied knowing about the petition when approached by The PUNCH on Sunday.
Regardless, the President of CAN, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, strongly refuted the letter, saying the organisation did not receive any money from the LP standard bearer.
Okoh made the clarification in a statement titled, ‘Re: Petition on the misappropriation of N2bn given by the presidential candidate of Labour party, Mr Peter Obi, to churches under the umbrella of CAN.’
Who said, “The attention of the national leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria has been drawn to a purported letter currently in circulation on the social media, alleging that a certain sum of N2bn was given by the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, to churches under the umbrella of CAN.
“I use this medium to categorically state that the so-called letter of petition reportedly signed by one Pastor Frank Onwumere and addressed to my office is illogical and can best be described as a failed attempt to drag the apex Christian body into the politics of 2023. However, we will investigate the source of the letter in the interest of the public.
“To set the records straight, I am not aware of any N2bn given to churches in Nigeria to mobilise votes for any 2023 presidential candidate and never received the said petition, dated December 22, 2022.’’
The Christian leader pointed out that as a religious organization, CAN retains its apolitical stance and won’t promote or mobilize endorsement for any candidate in the next elections.
“CAN, therefore, recommends the public to avoid the allegedly petition letter because its contents are not only false but also malicious,” he continued.
One of our reporters got in touch with the purported petitioner, Onwumere, who stressed that he had never seen Obi before and denied knowing about the petition.
I don’t know anything about it, he declared (petition). I have searched the entire state of Imo without discovering who is responsible. Not even a church is mine. Peter Obi and I have never met before.
“Apart from seeing Obi on television screen, I have never had any private meeting with Peter Obi before. I will address a press conference on Monday (today) to address this issue. My enemies are behind this forgery of my name and phone number.”
Also, the media team of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign described the purported claims of N2bn largesse as a “propaganda material” designed to injure the rising political profile of Obi.
In a statement on Sunday, the Head, Media, Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign, Diran Boniface, said the allegation was the ‘killer punch’ the LP had earlier warned Nigerians that the opposition was planning in their attempt to discredit Obi.
He said, “Recall that on February 6, 2023, the Obi-Datti Media Office, acting on credible intelligence, alerted the nation to a grand design to fatally injure the rising political profile of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, with what they called a ‘killer punch’ propaganda material.
“We made hints that the ‘killing punch’ might take many different forms, including but not limited to a documentary showing Obi in various unfavorable aspects.
voting day
However, as election day approaches and their ‘unwanted’ Obi appears to have won, certain shady figures’ rage and dissatisfaction have grown. The candidate’s eyes are already riveted on the ball, so we are even starting to observe some level of desperation that is leading to mindless violence and blackmail.
Similarly, the National Secretary of Labour Party, Umar Farouk, debunked the claim that Obi doled out N2bn to the CAN or any other religious body.
While saying the allegation was unfortunate, Farouk fingered the opposition as being behind the fake news.
He said, “Of course, it is a lie and CAN itself has disputed it. It has written to debunk it. Even you people in the media know this is not true.
“The Labour Party has denied this completely. There is no iota of truth in that report. Instead of Peter Obi giving out money, it is even the people contributing to support his campaign. It is the figment of imagination of the writer.
“We are suspecting the opposition as the brain behind this fake news, which is very unfortunate. They have been trying to bring us down after they have done their ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’, they are now turning attention to the churches.
“Who asked them to do Muslim-Muslim ticket? Look, I am a Muslim, I go to a mosque and talk to my people to vote for Peter Obi. All they can do in their own case is to seek ways to blackmail the church. They are doing themselves more harm than good.
“Our supporters have already made up their minds that they want to vote for Obi. We are just about 13 days away from the election. So we are good to go. They already have the record of sponsoring fake pastors to events.”
Also, reacting, the CAN in Imo State said the address of the petitioner’s church did not exist.
The Chairman of CAN in Imo State, Divine Eches, said, “We would want to state categorically that the said church is not in Imo State and the said Plot 35 Okigwe Road cannot be located in the search we have conducted this (Sunday) afternoon with about 20 able youth leaders from the beginning of Okigwe Road Owerri to the end.”
Sources: Infotrend.com.ng
