KILL ME BUT THE TRUTH IS THE GOVT PAID CAN N7BN - Borno Pastor Insists

The Borno State-based pastor, Kallamu Musa-Dikwa, who accused CAN of collecting N7bn from President Goodluck Jonathan to campaign against the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate in the March election, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), has insisted that the christian body collected the said amount.

Musa-Dikwa insisted on Monday in Kaduna that the Jonathan-government gave CAN N7bn.

He however believed that both Jonathan, who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the coming election, and Buhari were not fit to govern the country.

The cleric said the money given to pastors by the President was actually N7bn and not N6bn as alleged by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who doubles as the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation.

Amaechi had alleged that unnamed leaders of the PDP paid N6bn to Christian clerics to campaign against APC.

Amaechi’s allegation caused uproar among the Christian clerics, with the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Northern State Christian Elders Forum asking Amaechi to name the church leaders, who collected the N6bn bribe.

Musa-Dikwa, who is the Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement, had told journalists in Kaduna last Thursday that the multi-billion naira bribe was channelled through CAN.

He said CAN got the said money(N7bn) on January 26, 2015 and disbursed N3m to State Chairmen of the CAN across the country.

The cleric, who claimed he was forced to travel from Borno to Kaduna to react to the CAN denial, said the religious body was being economical with the truth by the denial, saying he used to be part and parcel of the association.

He said he fell out with the national body of the CAN when in 2013, some clerics from the United States(Christian Association of Nigeria-Americans)visited Nigeria and donated $50,000 to the victims of the Boko Haram in Borno State.

He explained that rather than the CAN to disburse the money to the serve the purpose it was meant for, the victims were only given a paltry N100,000.

On the bribe money, Musa-Dikwa, who played a recorded audio of someone confirming that CAN had collected the money before newsmen in Kaduna on Tuesday, said when Ameachi first accused the clerics of collecting bribe to campaign against Buhari, “I sent a text(message) to the leadership of the CAN to repent or be exposed.”

He said since he opened the can of worms, he had received several threat messages from yet-to-be identified persons, who claimed that “I am against Christians and working for the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate.”

Musa-Dikwa noted that the leadership of the CAN claimed “they didn’t know me” and that he was working for the APC because he decided to say the truth.

He added that since the revelation, many of the CAN members had called him to say the “allegation” was true and that they collected the money.

Pressed further during question and answer to disclose his source, the cleric simply said an “insider” in the CAN told him that the said money was collected on January 26, 2015.

He said,”There was no newspaper or news coverage of the disbursement of the N7bn to CAN. A national officer of CAN confirmed to me that CAN received the money and disbursed N3m to each state CAN.

“I sent text messages to the CAN leadership, asking them to repent otherwise I will expose them. Nobody replied me. That was why I decided to open up. Some people say that I am working for Buhari. It if not true. I am not working for anybody.

“It is not today that I started writing on Boko Haram. I stand for the truth. Boko Haram affects everyone, Christians and Muslims.”

Musa-Dikwa, displaying a copy of the Diploma Certificate from the All Nations for Christ Bible Institute International, Benin, whose founder was the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa, said, “Anybody in CAN, who claims not to know me is just telling lies.”

He said it was wrong for the Presidency to also say he was working for the APC, saying, “I am not working for anybody. I am standing for the truth. I am standing for righteousness and for my people, whether Christians or Muslims.”

The Borno-born cleric noted that he was not afraid to die for telling the truth, arguing that afterall, death meant nothing to him.

“My people(Borno) are dying everyday; so, I am ready to die for the truth to prevail,” he added.

On the Jonathan and Buhari Presidency, the cleric said both were not fit to govern Nigeria.