Akande Akinbode, a worker in the Redeemed Christian Church of God who claimed authorship of the song, “I will never be ungrateful to you Lord” has demanded to hear from Pastor Enoch Adeboye on issues concerning the song.
He has equally threatened to take RCCG to court over the church’s reluctance to acknowledge him as the original author of the song,
Akinbode who spoke with ObjectTV, an online television news medium said he was the one who composed the song but was shocked to discover that the RCCG praise team had used the song in one of its albums.
He said, “I am having an issue with the national praise team of the RCCG. I dropped that song (I will never be ungrateful to you Lord) in 2005 it’s a four-track album. But in 2016 I got to know that the national praise team has made use of the same song. I got a lawyer and we wrote the praise team. I was later invited by the music director of the Praise Team.”
Akinbode said during the meeting with the national director he promised that he would no longer pursue any charges against the church that he would ask his lawyer to drop the matter.
He said the music director was so excited about his decision not to pursue the matter legally. “He said he had never seen a person like me that I should feel free to call him any time. He said henceforth we were family and friends.” Akinbode recalled.
He said further that the music director asked him to pick any of the Holy Ghost service days to come and do the song and that he would announce him as the original writer of the song.
“So, in June 2016 I was at the Holy Ghost Service to do the song. But we were treated like shit. I don’t want to go into what we saw that day. After the ministration, we were not given a dime though I was told invited guests were normally given honorarium. And he did not make any announcement concerning the song as he promised.”
Days after Akinbode and his team ministered at the Holy Ghost service, he said he began to hear a piece of unconfirmed information that the General Overseer of the church had released a sum of N10million perhaps as compensation for his decision not to press charges against the church.
“Initially, my band thought I had collected money from the church to drop the matter. Nobody in my team believes I did not collect money. Just to confirm if the story about the money is true, the lawyer asked me to do a letter. I did about two letters to the G.O, I did not get any response.
“My lawyer now used his own letterhead to do a letter. The music director then called me again. I was not around. He asked if I would be at the holy ghost service. It was one November. He said we need to see that he got a letter from my lawyer. I said he should respond to the lawyer.”
That was the last communication Akande had with the music director. Later he was told that the church stopped singing the song that somebody was claiming money over it.
Akinbode who said he wanted nothing but an acknowledgement from the church declared, “I want the GO’s attention because he treats matters accordingly. I am sure that if he got my letter he would have acted. We have written so many letters but no response to all those letters.”
He said he and his team would have no option but to head to the court “which is not a good thing for me. What I need is acknowledgment. There should be a thank you from them to me instead of denting my image. This is about justice. There are some bad elements in the church who have stopped my letter from getting to the G.O. I want this to get to the G.O. And justice to be served.”
Church Times tried to get across to the church authority on the matter but there was nobody to offer any official explanation to the allegations of Akinbode A top official of the church who preferred not to be named said the church is being faced with too many frivolous allegations that cannot be attended to.
He said he had not got the permission to speak on the matter and was yet to see the video or hear from the music director.
He then advised Akinbode to see the lawyer of the RCCG on the matter and also confirm the issue of the money from the Church’s account’s department. “That is the only way he can be sure whether a certain amount was released as rumoured. On the copyright allegation, he should laisse with the lawyer of the RCCG and take it on from there” the official said.