I Never Said, “God will punish us if we did not vote Tinubu” –Lagos CAN chairman, Stephen Adegbite denies report …describe it, reckless
The Lagos Chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has in a statement denied a published story credited to the state CAN chairman, Bishop Stephen Adegbite where he was misquoted in the viral news story in some online platform and credited to a national tabloid, BLUEPRINT NEWSPAPER with the headline, God will punish us if we did not vote for Tinubu. was quoted to have said, “God will punish us if we did not vote for Tinubu”.
In a release statement by his media assistant, Very Rev. Oladapo Daramola, the chairman, Bishop Stephen Adegbite denied the report in his entity and said, he has never said anything like that, but was misquoted. He described the viral report as recklessness and unprofessional.
He called on the general public and christians in Lagos to disregard the misleading publication report as it does not represent his personal and Lagos CAN stand. Promising the misleading story will be retracted and corrected.
According to the release:
MISLEADING STATEMENT CREDITED TO THE LAGOS STATE CAN CHAIRMAN
Dear beloved, it’s quite possible that you have read a story published by BLUEPRINT NEWSPAPER, a National Daily, where the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Lagos State, Rt. Rev. Dr. S.T.V Adegbite was quoted as saying ”God’ll punish us if we don’t support Tinubu – Lagos CAN”.
I can reliably inform you that this headline is not only misleading but totally out of context. This is not damage control but setting the records straight.
As a trained Journalist, the first thing I did was to look at the by-line, and in doing so, I realised the story was lifted from an online media platform called TREK AFRICA MEDIA.
So it wasn’t a report that came from BLUEPRINT NEWSPAPER but one they published with some recklessness.
The name credited to the story is OKI SAMSON, and at 18:55 pm on Monday, 17th October 2022, I had a phone conversation with him to know what exactly transpired and what factually was said during the interview.
He confirmed to me that he was also shocked when he saw the headline cast by the Editor and was amazed at the twist.
He said the Bishop went down memory lane at a programme organized for Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the Federal Lawmaker representing Lagos Central Senatorial District somewhere here in Lagos over the weekend, and while reminiscing, he spoke about how his personal relationship with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has grown over the last 23 years and what the former Lagos State Governor has done for Christianity in Lagos State.
“At the end of his narrative, he said and Oki Samson quotes; ”God will not forgive me if I do not vote for Tinubu.”
Clearly, the aforementioned was said in his personal capacity and premised on his wonderful relationship with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“He was not speaking on behalf of Christians or as the Chairman of CAN in Lagos. The Bishop is quite mindful of his position of trust as the Leader of Christians in the State and would never speak loosely or anything close to that.
The writer of the original story has promised to tell the story as it was gathered and this will be shared as soon as it is done.
But please accept this as a fact and kindly ignore whatever was published in the BLUEPRINT NEWSPAPER or what has been shared so far.
Many thanks.
Very Rev. Oladapo Emmanuel Daramola
Special Adviser to the Lagos State CAN Chairman on Media, Public Relations, and Strategic Communications.
