By Adadareporters
There is the need to clarify stories making the rounds concerning the recent appointment of the Board of the Nigerian Christian Pligrim Commission (NCPC) made by President Bola Tinubu and the purported appointment of Dr Stephen Adegbite, Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as the Executive Secretary of the board instead of Secretary as originally announced by the office of the Nigerian President.
Credible sources in the Presidency revealed that contrary to the insinuations and news being peddled in a minority section of the media, Dr Adegbite was never appointed as the Executive Secretary of the Commission because President Tinubu is satisfied with the work Reverend Yakubu Pam is doing as the Executive Secretary of the Commission due to his dedication to duty, loyalty and the additional assignment given to him by Mr President to promote unity, understanding, peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance across the frontiers which he has been discharging creditably.
In the previous State House statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President (media and publicity), Chief Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu appointed Colonel Aloche Adole as the new Chairman of the NCPC Board. Other board members whose appointment is with immediate effect included Omowunmi Olubunmi Ogunlola, member (South West); Clement Alobu Nweke (member, South East) and Chief Prince Weli Wosu (member, South South). Also appointed into the board are Prof Joseph Haruna Mamman (member, North West); Dr Simon Abu Samson Dolly (member, North Central), Bishop Raphael Benjamin Nwankwo (representative, CAN) and Dr Stephen Adegbite as Secretary of the board.
The Villa frowns at the politicization and the attendant negative publicity being given to the Commission regarding the newly board appointment due lack of patience, bearing in mind the appropriate thing is stakeholders to wait for the issuance of appointment letters and inauguration of the board members. The ongoing media grandstanding is likely to impact negatively on critical arrangement already put in place by the leadership of the commission regarding intending pligrims.
It was revealed that some vested interests are urging Dr Adegbite behind the scene to smuggle himself as the Executive Secretary via self declaration fiat. This approach is contrary to the intention of Mr President knowing very well that the incumbent has not been removed from office and the new board announced doesn’t affect his position of the present Executive Secretary.
According to sources, “The tenure of the present Executive Secretary will elapse in June 2025 and as someone who contributed his an unwavering support for Mr President, he deserves an opportunity to finish his tenure. The thinking in the Presidency is to correct the errors made in the recent board appointment of Secretary because the position of Executive Secretary who is the accounting officer can only be occupied by one person who is to function as such, not any other person designed as Secretary. That is what was envisaged by the NCPC Act.
“The truth of the matter is that Mr President is not happy with stories regarding an attempt to forceful take over the leadership of the Commission because he never authorized anybody to institute such illegality. He is not happy to be associated with any negative story of any kind particularly this one that has to do with religious duties in the body of Christ. Nobody should try to drag his name under whatever guise. Even CAN, the Christian umbrella leadership, tried as much as possible not to side with any form of illegality by allowing the directives of Mr President to prevail over the NCPC Board appointment. Moreover, both Rev Pam and Adegbite are members of CAN. In fact, Pam was Chairman of Plateau State CAN and Chairman Northern CAN in the past.
It was learnt that CAN leadership advised Dr Adegbite to stop parading himself and promotion of congratulatory messages to himself as the Executive Secretary of the Commission. But he tried in vain to present himself as such during the visit of the Christian umbrella body to the Presidential Villa on Monday. He was ignored by the State House protocols because neither was he announced, given an official letter or recognized to that effect.
“What they have done is very embarrassing to Baba because he knows what Rev Pam has been doing an excellent job for Nigeria over the years. He is pleased and happy with his on going crusade of peace work and religious harmony across board”. Some members of CAN are of the opinion that Mr President should reassign Dr Adegbite elsewhere else to serve his administration as compensation outside the NCPC job to checkmate further avoidable confusion and controversy.
Also efforts to reach both Reverend Pam and Dr Adegbite for their own side of the story proved futile
