By Gabriel Atumeyi
The Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) has denied appointing Tonto Dikeh as the commission’s Ambassador of Peace.
Many media houses, this medium excluded, on Friday, February 26, 2021, reported that the actress was awarded Ambassador of the Commission for Peace Building.
However, the commission in a statement on the same Friday in the evening by its head of media and Public Relations, Celestine Toruka disclosed that Tonto was at the Commission to discuss the possibility of partnership in the area of peace building and advocacy.
The statement further called on Nigerians to disregard the claim which it said might have been encouraged and misrepresented by her.
The statement reads: “The Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission NCPC wishes to state in categorical terms that King Tonto Dikeh paid an official courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission, Rev Yakubu Pam, on 25th February, 2021 at the corporate headquarters of the Commission in Abuja.
“As the founder of 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 the NCPC boss for his positive and relentless peace initiatives across the country.
“However, we are suddenly inundated with claims from King 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 this claim which is a clear misrepresentation of what transpired.
“The fact remains that the Executive Secretary of NCPC never appointed King Tonto Dikeh 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 , the statement concluded.