For the second time, some
members of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, better known as Winners Chapel
have attacked another set of officials of Ogun State Government.
A reporter and cameraman of
the state television station, OGTV, were the latest victims.
The State Commissioner for
Information and Strategy, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu identified the assaulted
officials as Mr. Peter Falomo, a reporter with OGTV and his cameraman, Lekan
Egunjobi.
The duo according to the statement by the commissioner, were severely beaten and their camera was damaged when they went to the Ota premises of the church to cover the service of building inspection notices by officials of the Ministry Of Urban and Physical Planning.
The video camera of the TV
crew was forcibly seized and damaged in the process. The camera was only
released after the recording had been wiped off.
“Apart from the TV crew, two
officials of the Ministry were also injured by the irate church members who
prevented the team from entering the premises.
“The assault was witnessed by
the Head Pastor of the Church, Bishop David Oyedepo who equally was visibly
angry by the decision of the officials to attempt to carry out their statutory
duties in his church premises.
“At a point, the Bishop was
saying unprintable things while querying the audacity of the state officials to
attempt to regulate building of structures for commercial purposes in his
church premises.
” The officials of the
Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning who were accompanied by policemen had,
following the previous day similar assault of their counterparts in the OGIRS,
earlier made a report of their planned visit to the Winners Chapel premises at
the Divisional Police Station, Onipanu, Ota”,the statement read in parts.
Those wounded were taken to
the General hospital in Ota where they were treated and subsequently
discharged.
It was gathered that the
matter has also been reported to the police.
Commenting on the development,
the General Manager in the Ogun State Urban and Physical Planning Board, Mr.
Stephen Adewolu, who was part of the team that was molested in Ota, expressed
shock at the lawlessness displayed by the Winners Chapel members and their
leaders.
According to him, “No
organisation can carry on as if it is above the law. We have information that
the people in that church are just building structures indiscriminately without
building approval, without necessary environmental impact assessment reports
and they are violating planning laws and regulations.
” We only went there to serve
statutory notices on the on-going building development and they are behaving as
if the premises of the church is not covered by the laws of the state in which
it is located”, he said.
The State Attorney-General
and Commissioner for Justice, Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu confirmed to our
correspondent that her Ministry is studying the facts on the two incidents with
a view to take appropriate legal measures.
Also, officials of the Winners
Chapel had shunned meetings of the Stakeholders Forum established by the state
government for representatives of organisations located in the state to
deliberate with the government on issues of common interest, particularly
compliance with extant laws on physical planning and taxation.
On Thursday afternoon,
security personnel of the Kingdom Heritage Nursery and Primary School, a
commercial venture located within the complex of Winners Chapel, had violently
assaulted tax officials and damaged assets of the Ogun State Internal Revenue
Service (OGIRS).
Oyedepo opens Abuja Winners Chapel
The Federal Capital Territory was agog on Saturday when Bishop David Oyedepo inaugurated one of the biggest branches of The Living Faith Church, popularly referred to as Winners Chapel in Life Camp District in Abuja.Oyedepo opens Abuja Winners Chapel
The church, which accommodates over 4,000 worshipers every Sunday, was built in less than one year.
Thousands of worshipers gathered to witness the unveiling of the cathedral, which is estimated to be over N300m.
Oyedepo, who was represented by a Senior Pastor, Dele Bamgboye, revealed that with the dedication of the branch, Life Camp and its environs were set to experience a spiritual rebirth.
He therefore charged the congregation to always have faith in God, as only Him can supply all their needs.
Top clergymen and some senior government officials in Abuja and in other northern states under the Winners Chapel family, were on ground to witness the official inauguration.
Resident Pastor of the church and younger brother to Bishop Oyedepo, Gideon Oyedepo, told journalists that the church project gulped millions of naira.
0 comments:
Post a Comment