We didn’t make Tonto Dikeh our ambassador, NCPC refutes actress’ claim

THE Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission has denied appointing Actress Tonto Dikeh as its ambassador.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Rev Yakubu Pam, disclosed this in a statement on last night.

The denial is coming on the heels of the reactions trailing the famous actress’ celebration of the purported appointment as an ambassadors of the Commission.

“I am now a proud Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission Ambassador for peace building,” Dikeh claimed in a tweet yesterday.

The actress inundated her Twitter handle with  photos of herself and the executive secretary of the Commission in a bid to prove her claim.

But the announcement was greeted by harsh criticisms of the Commission by many people who said the appointment should have given to someone who “genuine” espoused the tenets of Christianity.

But in a statement last night, Pam said, “I wish to state in categorical terms that Tonto Dikeh paid an official courtesy visit to me as the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission on 25th February, 2021 at the corporate headquarters of the Commission in Abuja.

“As the founder of The Tonto Dikeh Foundation, she expressed her willingness and interest in partnering with the Commission in the area of peace building.

“She equally cashed in on the visit to commend me the NCPC boss for my positive and relentless peace initiatives across the country.

“However, I am suddenly inundated with claims from Tonto Dikeh herself that she has been officially appointed as Ambassador of peace by this great Commission. This claim has gone virile in the media.

“The Commission frowns at (sic) this claim which is a clear misrepresentation of what transpired. The fact remains that the I the Executive Secretary of NCPC never appointed Tonto Dikeh as an Ambassador of Peace for NCPC and this was not part of her visit therefore this claim by her is spurious, unfounded and should be discarded and seen by all Nigerians as a figment of her imagination.

“Nevertheless, we appreciate her desire to partner with us in our peace building initiatives and in the area of pilgrimage sponsorship to the Holy Land.”