The Civil Rights Action Against Corruption (CRAAC) has asked Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) Executive Secretary Rev. Yakubu Pam to vacate his post amid accusations of betraying the public trust.
Corruption Accusation, Threats of Protests
A report by the Vanguard website disclosed that the anti-corruption group held a press conference on Sunday, during which they accused Reverend Pam of orchestrating a backdoor political campaign "to be handpicked as a correcting factor for the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)."
CRAAC argued that Pam's action was equal to the betrayal of public trust.
The group's National Coordinator, Robinson Edeh, warned of "indefinite protests" if Pam fails to resign within one week from Oct. 31, 2022.
The leader bared that the protests would occur at the State House Aso Villa and other government offices in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. He also identified the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the headquarters of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the NCPC Office in Garki Abuja as other areas where the protests will be staged.
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Call for Pam's Resignation
"Several threats of destabilization over the Muslim-Muslim tickets were connected with his (Pam) name and it would be interesting to see what additional information law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community would dig up since they have already connected his financial links to some of those threats," Edeh said.
He added that they did not want to see Pam's arrest and sentencing come once his tenure as leader of NCPC was over. Edeh argued that NCPC, as a "Christian-oriented entity," should "lead by example" and not have someone like Pam, who has corruption allegations, serve on the Commission.
"This is why we are calling for him, Reverend Yakubu Pam, to immediately resign as the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) in view of the many infractions he has allegedly engaged in," he said.
The CRAAC leader added that they wish Reverend Pam would surrender to 'anti-corruption bodies and relevant authorities' once he tendered his resignation from the NCPC. He said it would allow the authorities to "properly investigate the extent of corruption" that Reverend Pam has been accused of.
"We are particularly interested in unravelling these details so we are going to demand that the nation's anti-graft agencies investigate the finances of the NCPC from 2016 till date, which requires that he steps aside to prevent him from interfering with the process," Edeh explained.
'Acts Inimical to Christian Evangelism'
In a report by the Legit.ng website, Edeh alleged that Pam had done 'acts that are inimical to Christian evangelism,' instead of building and strengthening the body of Christ.
"The most recent of such conduct is the charade you reduced the sacred body of Christ and the Christian Pilgrims Commission into when you led 121 persons to pose, on a trip that you tenuously packaged as a pilgrimage to pray for the forthcoming elections and restoration of security in Nigeria; your trip was comically also used to discuss the national politics, on which we speak more about," Edeh said in the letter they sent to Pam.
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