A church run by a controversial multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’ after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who were told that God would give them riches in return.

Followers are ferried in double-decker shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them immune from illness.

Today’s Mail on Sunday revelations about the Winners’ Chapel movement have prompted the Charity Commission to review the charitable status  of the church – one of the fastest-growing in the UK.

Winners’ Chapel is part of a worldwide empire of evangelical ministries run by Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher David Oyedepo, who has an estimated £93 million fortune, a fleet of private jets and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Plenty to smile about; Preacher David Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel movement aboard one of his private jets. He also owns a Rolls Royce Phantom

Dubbed ‘The Pastorpreneur’, he was accused earlier this year of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch. The assault case was struck out but is being appealed.

Branches of the church have sprung up in major UK cities in a huge recruitment drive centred on Mr Oyedepo’s ‘prosperity gospel’. This claims that congregants who make regular donations and pay tithes – a ten per cent levy on their income – will be rewarded financially by God.

Followers are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.

Last night, Labour MP Paul Flynn said Winners’ Chapel was cynically exploiting supporters. ‘They [Winners’ Chapel] are making clearly spurious claims and it seems to be a cynical exploitation of the gullible,’ he said.

Referring to the slapping incident, Mr Flynn added: ‘What is also alarming is the reported violence and the lack of respect for the status of women. It’s taking us back to a previous age of ignorance and prejudice that we all thought the church had escaped.’

Caught on camera: Video of Mr Oyedepo striking a young ‘witch’ across the face in front of a congregation

This newspaper’s investigation can further disclose:

• Congregants are handed a payment slip requesting payments using cheque, cash or debit card when they enter London’s Winners’ Chapel.

• Donations to the ministry in England almost doubled from £2.21 million to £4.37 million between 2006 and 2010.

• Mr Oyedepo’s superchurch in Nigeria received £794,000 or 73 per cent of the charitable donations paid out by the British Winners’ Chapel between 2007 and 2010. This was despite claims in Africa that he is enriching himself at the expense of his devotees.

• The registered charity has spent £6.81 million on evangelism and ‘praise, worship and fellowship’.

• The church’s ‘Joseph Squad’ preaches in British prisons and has a weekly broadcast named ‘Liberation Hour’ on satellite and cable TV here.

In the past three years, Winners’ Chapel churches have been established in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford, adding to those in London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow.

An undercover Mail on Sunday reporter attended Sunday services  at Winners’ Chapel’s ‘London HQ’  in Dartford, Kent, which attracts 1,000 congregants – chiefly African and Caribbean immigrants. It is run like ‘a business conference’ by Mr Oyedepo’s son, David Oyedepo Jnr. Packed buses deliver singing worshippers from South-East London, Essex and Kent to the huge auditorium.

The reporter saw a payment slip being given to every person entering the church encouraging them to donate money by cheque or cash or to fill in a form with their debit card details. The slip said tithes should be paid separately using a ‘Kingdom Investment Booklet’ and the reporter was informed that payments could also be made by phone. A pastor told the worshippers: ‘You shall be financially promoted after this service in Jesus’s name if you are ready to honour the Lord therefore with all your givings, your tithes, your offerings, your Kingdom investment, your sacrifices.’

Congregants were told to fill in their slips and hold them above their heads while the donations were blessed.

One of the fleet: A jet belonging to Mr Oyedepo – he has at least two that he bought with his huge fortune

The service was interspersed with testimonies. ‘I received a bill from  the bank that I didn’t understand, so I prayed,’ said one congregant. ‘A few days later, the bank wrote to apologise for their mistake – Hallelujah!’ ‘Hallelujah,’ the audience shouted back.

Congregants were told they could gain favour by persuading others to follow Mr Oyedepo’s teachings. His son said: ‘Look around you. Someone is sick and already wishing he or she were dead, that is a fruit ripe to harvest. Someone is confounded and considering suicide as an option, that is another fruit that is ripe to harvest.

‘Someone else is lonely and wondering if there is any future for him, that is another fruit ripe to harvest.

‘Also there are many men and women, young and old that are homeless, these are fruits ripe to harvest.’

The reporter was taken, with 20 other new recruits, to a room where preachers gave sermons claiming acceptance of the Lord would prevent them ever being ill or suffering misfortune.

The Mail on Sunday has seen video footage of Mr Oyedepo striking a woman across the face and condemning her to hell after she said she was a ‘witch for Jesus’. He attacked her in a Winners’ Chapel superchurch, believed to be in Nigeria, in front of worshippers. A separate video shows him saying: ‘I slapped a witch here last year!’

In May, he was sued for £800,000 over the alleged assault. The case was struck out – a decision which is now reported to have been appealed.

The Winners’ Chapel movement, also known as the Living Faith Church, has hundreds of churches in Nigeria and across Africa, the Middle East, the UK and the US.

Mr Oyedepo has received fierce criticism in Africa. One Nigerian journalist accused him of ‘leading a growing list of pastorpreneurs – church founders exploiting the passion and emotion that Christianity commands to feather their nests’.

Marriage: Seen here with his wife Faith, Mr Oyedepo has a son who runs services at the chapel’s London headquarters

Catholic Cardinal Anthony Okogie criticised such preachers for placing materialism above Jesus’s message. He reportedly said: ‘They have been skinning the flock, taking out of the milk of the flock.’

Among Mr Oyedepo’s fleet of aircraft are said to be a Gulfstream 1 and Gulfstream 4 private jets. It is also claimed he and his wife, Faith, travel in expensive Jeeps flanked by convoys of siren-blaring vehicles. He is the senior pastor of Faith Tabernacle, a 50,000-seat auditorium in Lagos reputed to be the largest church in the world, and runs a publishing company that distributes books carrying his message across the world.

His other business interests span manufacturing, petrol stations,  bakeries, water purification factories, recruitment, a university, restaurants, supermarkets and real estate. The latest addition is a commercial airline named Dominion Airlines.

A Charity Commission spokesman said: ‘The Charity Commission is  currently assessing what, if any,  regulatory role there is to play with regard to the complaints made against the World Mission Agency. It is important to clarify that this does not constitute an investigation at this stage.’

Winners’ Chapel administrator Tunde Disu declined to comment.

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Another bomb blast occurred in two different parts within Bauchi metropolis on Wednesday night damaging part of the building of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), in Zango area and another building at Tudun Hausawa without any casualty recorded.

The Bauchi state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lewi Pokti, who confirmed the incident, said the explosion at COCIN and Zango damaged the entire pulpit and parts of the church building which will require an entire reconstruction.

The clergy while condemning the incident, said that the attacks on churches in the state is becoming too frequent and call on security agencies to be more proactive in tackling the attacks on worship centers.

An eye witness in the area said two persons on a motorcycle were seen shortly before the explosion as they were assumed to be church members coming for a routine night vigil, only to discovered that they succeeded in planting the improvised explosive device and thereafter zoom off.

In the other explosion at Zango area a building was damaged and another rooftop blown off by the planted explosive which occurred simultaneously with the explosion at the COCIN church.

Commissioner of police Bauchi command, Mohammed Ladan also confirm the explosions which recorded no injury or casualty and assured that the area is calm and peaceful as normal activities have resumed with security presence to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

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Action Congress of Nigeria governorship candidate in the coming Ondo State election has accused Congress for Progressive Change, Vice President Candidate in the 2011 Presidential election, Pastor Tunde Bakare of “pushing” General Muhammadu Buhari to failure during the election.

In a statement issues by the Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy of Akeredolu’s group, Idowu Ajanaku, said Bakare “is notorious for being on the losing side. He supported Gen. Muhammad Buhari in the last presidential election and pushed the much loved man with his ambition to become vice president until their party lost woefully. Nobody will take him serious, a man who has abused respected men of God in the land. How many of his predictions have come to pass. He predicted that Obasanjo will not become president in 1999 but the man ended up spending eight years in office.”

He spoke as the Convener of Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Pastor Tunde Bakare said the proposed regional integration in the South West should not be a partisan agenda, noting that the interest of the people should be considered first before that of any political party.

Bakare who predicted that Governor Olusegun Mimiko would win “hands down” and “nothing will happen” afterwards spoke in Lagos in reference to the plan by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to win the governorship election in Ondo State towards regional integration of the South West. He said the idea that only one political party could integrate the region economically was borne out of “colonial thinking” which was to the common people’s detriment.

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A MAJOR political hurdle the northern leaders will have to overcome in their bid for the presidency in 2015 is whether to present a Muslim or Christian as presidential candidate. This new subject matter is coming to the burner as the Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NORSEF) claims it is the turn of a Christian from the North to govern the nation.

According to the Arewa Christian leaders, in a statement issued after an emergency meeting in Kaduna, the core northern Moslems have had enough share of the presidential slot in governing Nigeria since independence in 1960.

The NORSEF Chairman, Evangelist Mathew Owojaiye and Secretary, Mr. Iliya Yusuf, said Christians from the region would vehemently resist a situation where Muslim politicians would come out for the 2015 presidential contest.

Owojaiye argued that “we the Christians boldly affirm that the next person to be president of this country from the north must be a Christian”, alleging that they have long been marginalised by the Arewa leaders in the political equation concerning the region.

The Christian elders listed former Nigerian leaders, according to them, to show how the Arewa leaders have, in the past, marginalised Northern Christians. “The north has produced Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalam and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

“You can see that out of these nine persons, the Northern Christians have only Gen. Yakubu Gowon. If we are to consider elective presidents, we have Balewa, Shagari and Yar’Adua. The Northern Muslims have produced three elective presidents while the Christians from the North have produced none. Justice, equity and fairness demand that the next president of Nigeria from the North must be a Christian; nothing less than that should happen”.

Besides, the NORSEF leaders condemned the alleged marginalisation of the Christians in the North, which has continued unabated, recalling that recently, “the Federal Government gave N5 billion to the Muslim almagiri school system and gave nothing to the Christians”.

Owojaiye said “such unjust, unfair and discriminatory action is totally unacceptable to the northern Christians. President Goodluck Jonathan, the Northern Christians are waiting for their N5 billion for 2012. The national lawmakers should see to this urgently.

“Some states governments in the north refuse the teaching of Christian religious studies in their public schools even when voluntary organisations are ready to pay the CRS teachers. The Northern Governors Peace Forum, while commendable, is unacceptable to us because the committee is lopsided, with 30 Muslims and only 11 Christians.”

On the high level of insecurity in the north, the Chairman of NORSEF said the group “condemns in its totality, the savage, wicked and barbaric action of the terrorists roaming the northern part of this country, especially the recent attacks at the Federal Polytechnic, School of Health Technology and the Adamawa State University, all in Mubi, and the State Polytechnic in Yola.”

According to the NORSEF, “the perpetrators of this wicked act and their sponsors must be fished out and tried for treason. Nobody must be seen to be above the law in Nigeria.”

As part of measures to reduce the level of crime in the country, the Christian group said “thousands of university graduates roaming the streets jobless should be employed into the secret service and given adequate security training”, stressing that “this will solve so many problems; it will reduce unemployment, it will reduce crime, it will beef up our security system and make the nation a safer place to dwell in.”

NORSEF said “the Federal Government must understand that Christian leaders are being put in a very difficult position. Why must we keep apologising to our people on behalf of the Federal Government? Why must we keep telling our people to be calm in the face of such provocations, slaughter and terrorist acts? Why is the Federal Government making us cowards, inactive and incapable leaders to protect our people and fight for their interest? Our youths are becoming restless and furious. We urge the Federal Government to show that they are truly in control. This nation is fast becoming a failed state”.

The northern Christian leaders stated that “in two years time, we shall be reviewing the 100 years of the forceful amalgamation of Nigeria. Those who are insisting that Nigeria must remain one have just two years to stop all the killings, looting and the maladministration. There will be no nation called Nigeria if things remain like this.”

The NORSEF leaders also pointed out that for Nigeria to remain as a nation, there is need to restructure the polity.

“We do not want the six geo political zones inserted in the constitution. It should go further than that; six or eight regions should be created. Each region should be semi-autonomous and self-governing. They should pay tax to the Federal Government. The states should be retained. One senator should emerge per state. Each state should produce two members of the House of Representatives.”

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Pastor Tunde Bakare , Sunday, during his sermon titled “BIRTHRIGHT STRUGGLES” declared as a prophesy, the incumbent Governor of Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the winner of the 20th October election which is yet to be held.

At the beginning of the sermon, he quoted Malachi 2:7 which reads “for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of Host” thus confirming his stand as a messenger of God.

Quoting further from Leviticus 27:14 he reads ’And when a man dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest shall set a value for it, whether it is good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand.”

Based on the forgoing scriptures, he declared that he has the right and authority to make the declarations.

Continuing, he used Deuteronomy 21:1-5 to declare that “he is speaking as an oracle of God and not a representative of any political party.”

The prophet of God stated that “birthright is not just the right to own double portion of the father’s inheritance, but it is the right to rulership.” He made the example of Reuben whose birthright as the firthborn was stripped and handed over to Joseph (Genesis 48:22).

He further declared that “rulership is by living right and no longer by birthright.” The descendants of Joseph -Ephraim- was stripped of the inherited birthright and handed over to Judah because they turned away on the day of battle (Psalm 78:9-12, 67-72).

“That you got it doesn’t mean you will retain it.” The man of God stated that in the Tsunami that swept the southwest during the OBJ era, God preserved Lagos as the shinning light and thereafter expanded the territory of ACN in Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Edo leaving out Ondo.

“You have despised your birthright by selling the presidential election to the PDP ( Obviously referring to the News that ACN sold the presidential election to Jonathan).”

The fiery prophet lambasted the ACN stating: “they would lose in the South West with Ondo has the starting point.”

He also accused its leadership of corruptly enriching themselves “buying Jet you cannot account for how you got the money.”

“God reserved the Labour party in Ondo to serve as the shinning light, come 20th October, 2012 Mimiko will win the elections in Ondo State.”

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Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for marking Nigeria’s 52 independence anniversary at the Presidential Villa, instead of Eagle Square, which is the nation’s traditional ground.

The cleric in an interview with THISDAY in Sokoto yesterday said that Jonathan’s action was an indication that he had bowed to the Islamist sect, Boko Haram by choosing his Aso villa residence to mark the nation’s independence.

Kukah affirmed that: “The notion that the president cannot stand publicly and address Nigerians on the day of independence is unacceptable and an indication that he is not in charge.”

“Today we are celebrating independence in the Presidential Villa, who knows next time if it is threatened, we move into the council chambers and subsequently there would be no celebration.

“And this is not the kind of wrong message Nigerians want to receive because anytime the president gives an inch to such insurgent groups, he surrenders his legitimacy,” he said.

He insisted that instead of shunning the public celebration, the president would have used the celebration to encourage well-meaning Nigerians on security.

He added: “Jonathan should have used the independence anniversary to inspire Nigerians. He should have urged the people to laugh in the face of Boko Haram because if we show that we cannot celebrate independence because of the insurgents, then we are sharing power and territory with them.”

“This is a psychological war game, the president must demonstrate to foreign investors that he is open for business. But this celebration of independence in Aso Rock is not building any confidence on the part of citizens and foreigners alike,” he said.

Speaking further, the preacher maintained that Nigeria would have attained an enviable height after 52 years if not for the 30 years of military regimes in the that had caused more harm to the economic growth of the nation than good.

While calling on Northern leaders, he said that all hands be put on deck in order to bring back sanity to the volatile region. The cleric prayed God to keep the nation united.

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Ahead of October 20, governorship election in Ondo State, the President of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), worldwide,  today cautioned politicians against heating the polity.

He particularly said election could only be free and fair when political parties play the game according to the rules.

Addressing reporters shortly after the end of CAC worldwide Pastors’ Conference at Ikeji Arakeji in Osun State, Akinosun also warned politicians against using of thuggery before and during the Election Day.

According to him, “Politicians should note that they are representing human beings and not animals. Killing, destruction of property should be stopped. It is now high time Nigerian politicians leant how to accept defect and embrace peace.

“It is God who appoints leaders; you can only rule a country, state, or local government, if the Lord approved your ways. You cannot force yourself on the electorate. For this, stop killing the people you want to rule.”

The Pastor urged the electorate not to allow any selfish politician to use money to buy them into unreasonable party philosophy and seniments.

Speaking on the nation’s security, the President of CAC who condemned the recent suicide bombing at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bauchi State called for the introduction of State Police.

Akinosun appealed to the State Governors not to abuse the advantage he has to oppress their political opponents.

His words, “the latest case of suicide bombing in the church has reinvigorated the call for our security service to be re-organised. What the latest bombing indicated is that the talks with the terror group may be collapsing.

“While we call on the Federal Government to redouble their efforts to ensure that the terror group’s activities are brought under control, we also urge President Goodluck Jonathan to consider the introduction of State Police.”

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A member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Olusegun Olaleye (Radical) has renovated two mosques and church in Sango and Agbowo communities in Ibadan North Local Government Area of the state.

The renovation of the places of worship by the lawmaker representing Ibadan North state constituency 2, also introduced “Ajimuse” Microcredit support for about 100 people in the local government area.

Speaking during the inauguration of some of the projects in the area, the lawmaker disclosed that the desire to provide the dividend of democracy to his people was borne of the mandate given the elected members of the ruling political party in the state, ACN, by its leaders.

He said that before the election, the leaders of the party told all the contestants the need to ensure that they make life meaningful for the electorate through provision of basic amenities.

As a result, he said that any elected member of the ACN could not afford not to perform, especially when the mandate did no leave out Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

According to him, the leader of the party in the state, Alhaji Lam Adesina, has mandated them to perform and ensure that the dividends of democracy were taken to the door steps of the people.

He said that the construction of boreholes in Mokola and Abadina communities and renovation of the places of worship were part of his electioneering campaigns.

He explained that the “Ajomose” Micro fiancé support programme was to enable traders have more capital to improve on their trades.

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some of the injured

Will it help? I don’t know if the political will exists to solve this problem. Why should you be afraid to go to church? Terrible!

NATIONAL President of Christian Association of Nigeria Youth Wing, YOWICAN, Pastor Simon Dolly, and the Bauchi State chairman, Pastor Simon Samuel, have challenged the Federal Government to hold state governors responsible for religious violence in their domains.

Reacting to the news of the killing of four persons at the St. John Catholic Church, Bauchi, yesterday morning, by a suicide bomber, they argued that since the governors are the chief security officers of their respective states, they should be held accountable for any security breach.

A suicide bomber attacked St. John Catholic Church at about 9.00am with an explosives-laden car while the second Mass was about to start in the North Eastern city of Bauchi, yesterday. Two people were killed with 46 injured.

In his reaction, Pastor Dolly condemned the latest in a series of attack on the church, noting that the Federal Government, Bauchi State government and indeed all the state governors must be more proactive in tackling the current menace.

Also reacting, Rev. Samuel, who put the number of casualty at four with 46 injured, called on all Christians in the country to rally round the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, leadership which had declared a three-day fasting and prayers for peace in the nation.

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Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has now taken his quest for the inclusion of religious leaders in the Mideast peace process to the US Congress, where alongside other religious leaders a call has been made to widen the scope of the peace talks, Empowered Newswire reports.

“It is time for the voice of religious leaders to be heard in the international arena together with the voice of academics and parliamentarians,” he says at a US Capitol meeting*during the week, attended by at least two US Senators: Mike Lee, Republican from Utah, Dean Heller, Republican from Nevada,*and a US Congressman Louie Gohmert, from Texas.

Adeboye who also hinted*that already the Nigerian government has also bought into the idea, explained that such an inclusion “will fill a gap in global diplomacy,” specifically regarding the Mideast peace process but also

Alongside other*religious leaders from the Abrahamic faith groups-Judaism, Christianity*and Islam, the General Overseer of the RCCG*has*taken the same quest to world leaders at the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Israel in the last one year.

In fact a news report by New York Times in June this year described this effort as “Track III Diplomacy,” for the Mideast peace process, since there are other tracks at the regional and global levels especially among politicians and public officials.

Speaking at the US Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, Adeboye, represented by the leader of the RCCG in North America, Pastor James Fadele said the global religious leaders are seeking to empower, “for the first time, a global network of spiritual leaders, educators and government officials,”*to come together*and fight intolerance *racism, terrorism and violence on all levels.

Noting that the idea was first presented last June at the UN, where Adeboye personally unveiled the initiative, the General Overseer added that the initiative “we are hoping to develop is also aimed to construct the defenses of peace in the minds of men,” just as the UNESCO Constitution stated.

The Mideast conflict, Adeboye continued, “is not only about politics-it is also about religious and moral values. The only way to solve it is through education for a culture of peace among all sides to the conflict.”

The prominent cleric said the crisis in the Mideast is also about history, religious values and ideal including legal principles, which is why he is arguing around the globe that “the arena cannot be left solely to politicians.”

According to the General Overseer of the RCCG, the Mideast Peace negotiations “have been ongoing for decades with no results when left only to the politicians.* The gap has to be filled with the involvement of religious leaders, parliamentarians and academic leaders in order to achieve success.”

He hinted that the initiative might have received the endorsement of the Nigerian government.

Adeboye then made a call to all members of the US Congress and NGOs in the American capital “to join us in the valiant and crucial effort to promote world peace, environmental ethics and social justice-which are the hallmarks of our mission as democracies and as leaders of the free world.”

Some of the groups, leading politicians and religious leaders that Adeboye is collaborating with include parliamentarians from European countries and now members of the US Congress.

The initiative itself comes under the auspices of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics which was set up by an Israeli lawmaker, Knesset Member Rabbi Zeev and the Christ the Redeemer’s Friends Trust, a London-based outfit formed by Adeboye to help people at risk and promote world peace beyond the walls of the church.

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