When the governor of Rivers state and director-general of Buhari Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi, a few weeks ago raised the alarm that the Presidency doled out a whopping sum of N6bn to the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for vote-catching, I deliberately maintained studied silence. This was because I did not want to be dragged into the controversy. Ordinarily, I could have risen in defence of the Body of Christ under normal circumstances. But this is Nigeria where all things are possible.
Phew! Can the Presidency have the guts to tempt men of God with so much money? Wouldn’t they, save two of them that are super rich, faint at the mere mention of such slush fund talk less of seeing the cash? I had my doubts, trying to convince myself that the accuser was on a mission to tar the unblemished Body of Christ with Mammon brush so as to gain undue political mileage. But I know that the rulers of this world have corrupted the church system.
Many will believe Rotimi Amaechi considering the intensity of romance between the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and the pastors, especially those of the Pentecostal hue in recent years. If churchmanship is a passport to heaven, our president will qualify as an automatic entrant. Then on Friday, February 20, 2015, one of the clergymen dropped a bombshell, accusing the association of collecting N7bn (not N6bn as Amaechi claimed) in order to campaign for Mr. President.
The cleric that opened the “CAN of worms” was Kallamu Musa-Dikwa, a former associate pastor with Enklesiyan Yan’uwan A Nigeria or EYN Church stationed in Maiduguri between 2002 and 2004. He is currently the executive director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement (VNCM). Kallamu alleged that CAN collected the money on January 26, this year and disbursed N3m each to the 36 state chairmen of the umbrella body across the country, translating into a miserable sum of N108m.
He also alleged that the beneficiaries of the largesse are browbeating their followers to vote for Mr. President in the (rescheduled) presidential poll or the host of hell would be let loose on the entire nation as allegedly threatened by one high-profile Pentecostal Papa.
Expectedly, the public relations officer of the Northern CAN, Mr. Sunday Oibe, has denied Kallamu’s startling allegation. The allegation has triggered off a chain of rebuttals from many quarters.
Those of us who are Christians are very worried about the mud being slung at the Church, rightly or wrongly. The CAN as an institution has been in the eye of the storm since the mantle of leadership was dyed in Pentecostal colour.
You have not forgotten (have you?) the controversy that surrounded the seizure of raw cash amounting to over $9m in South Africa intended to purchase weapons from the black market to fight the Boko Haram insurgents.
The jet that was used to ferry the money to the former apartheid enclave belongs to the incumbent CAN head, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
I know that our pastors love money which the Bible says is the root of all evil.
I also know that many so-called pastors are in the habit of charging various sums of fees in order to be prayed for. I will not want to proceed any further on this ugly spectacle because I have already been diagnosed as suffering from pastor aversion syndrome (PAS).
It is not entirely my fault. I am just obsessed with perfection in the Body of Christ. And the fact that he who comes to the pulpit must do so with clean hands. That is all. I just hope that CAN will come clean on this one. For, as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire.