The General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Dr Daniel Olukoya has become a refrain on the lips of some internet warlords in the last couple of months and still counting.His sins: Two of his pastors: Femi Jimoh and Caleb Oloruntele were incarcerated unjustly for 9 years with his knowledge. And also, that he has a penchant for always using police to harass offenders or perceived offenders in the church.They cite instances of those who have fallen victim to his police harassment. There are also a couple of videos of some former members of the church who gave accounts of what they went through in his hands and how he used police to terrorise them.The issue on ground however is that of Jimoh and Oloruntele. Some netizens describe the unjust incarceration of the duo as the height of Dr. Olukoya’s insensitivity.The pastors in a couple of interviews had alleged that Pastor Olukoya ordered the police to kill them after they were arrested for attempted armed robbery.That sounds outlandish. But they insisted that was what Olukoya told the police when they were taken to his office in the course of Police investigation.
Background and close shaves
Many however do not know the background to the story of the jailed MFM Pastors. All they know is that these pastors were accused of robbery and subsequently made to go through a 9-year gruelling time in prison.
Indeed, nobody would listen to the duo of Jimoh and Oloruntele and not weep. The first time they spoke with Yoruba Gidi TV, emotions peaked. Life for them came to a halt in the course of their unjust incarceration. The emotional pain they went through continues to reverberate even after 8 years of leaving prison.
Beyond that, the imagery of people being killed indiscriminately and people dying in their presence while in prison has continued to haunt them. They recalled several instances of close shaves with death in police custody. The hunger they suffered, the neglect, and their losses are etched in their memories.
Jimoh who still carries a Police bullet in his leg, recalled how an inmate was shot dead in his presence and how the police ordered him to put the corpse in the boot of a vehicle at the police station. His wife deserted him while he was in prison. His father died and he could not attend his burial. Oloruntele on the other hand lost his child while he was in detention and later lost his wife a couple of years after regaining freedom.
During the interview, they evoked how the police once took them to the third mainland bridge in the dead of the night. While on the bridge, they attempted to kill and dump them in the lagoon only to change their mind later.
Incidentally, a third person, Henry Aiyewero was also allegedly arrested by the police and accused along with the duo of Jimoh and Oloruntele.
Aiyewuro does not attend the church. He had gone to the filling station to buy fuel when the police arrested him.
The issues
The question however is: Why did Pastor Olukoya allow his pastors to go through such a hellish experience for 9 years without blinking? Femi Jimoh’s mother in an interview said she once had access to Pastor Olukoya but that the response from him was not favourable.
The Families of both Jimoh and Oloruntele got the services of different lawyers on the matter. But they still ended up staying long in prison custody. The case was between: The People of Lagos State and Oluwafemi Jimoh, Henry Aiyewero, and Caleb Oloruntele
In her judgment on July 1, 2016, Justice O.A Williams (Mrs) however stated that the case dragged on for long due to the fault of both the prosecution and the defendants.
She said, “The prosecution dragged its feet, closed and reopened its case, and sought endless adjournments. What makes it more worrisome is that the defendants continued with this pattern of delay when it was their turn to present their defense even though the 1st and 2nd defendants (Jimoh and Oloruntele) who had been granted bail did not make the conditions of bail so they continued to remain in custody.”
Claims for damages
Following the ruling at the high court, Jimoh and Oloruntele proceeded to the Industrial Court to make claims for the 9-year losses. The court had ruled in their favour asking the church to pay all their entitlements.
Just about a week ago, Church Times was part of an interview session with Pastor Jimoh and the rest of the folks connected to the case. The interview was arranged by Asabe Afrika TV. It turned out to be another time of high emotion and a recount of pain. But the story remains the same.
The only development is that the church according to Jimoh and Olortuntele sent a cumulative sum of about N6 million in cheques to their lawyer. But they said the money is a far cry from the N500 million they were claiming.
Olukoya and his CSO
The issue is however beyond the payment of compensation. It is about the G.O. of MFM and his Chief Security Officer, Michael Gbadamosi. All hands are pointing to them. It is hard to contemplate that a church leader will enter the boxing ring with his pastors.
But the main question that kept sticking out like a sore thumb during the interview is: Why would Pastor Olukoya and his CSO be interested in the death of these pastors? The matter seems to be more than what meets the eye.
Pastor Jimoh was the first to give a clue. He said he was arrested by the police in the house of the CSO while trying to give him his credentials to help facilitate a better mission posting.
He said however that his travails could be traced to when he stumbled on the CSO in the house of a herbalist at Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
But the CSO in another interview had denied ever going to Ogbomoso. He also denied that Pastor Jimoh was arrested in his house insisting that he had never been to his house.
The church also said at a press conference that Pastor Jimoh and the rest were arrested in a hotel while they were planning to carry out the robbery. MFM lawyer, Davidson Adejuwon claimed “Jimoh had been a serial offender in the church and that he tried to recruit some OPC members to join in his plan to hijack the first fruit offering of January of the year of their arrest.
“But the OPC members were scared and had to report to the police. The police asked them to play along. It was while they were in one of the meetings in a hotel planning how to carry out the robbery that the police swooped on them and arrested them.”
The DPO who handled the case, Olukayode Samuel confirmed that was how they were arrested according to another video interview shown on YouTube.
Evidence not strong
However, it seemed the church’s evidence did not hold water in the court. Paul Effiong, manager of the hotel where they were allegedly arrested, had testified in the court that some of the witnesses in the court were his customers and that they came to the hotel under the guise that they were going to shoot a movie.
He allowed them to carry out the supposed shooting only to find out that the scene was aired on Television the following day with a report that those in the scene were planning to attack MFM and cart away the church’s money.
It turned out that it was while in detention that the police took the arrested folks to the hotel and filmed them to create the impression they were arrested at the hotel.
The son of the herbalist who was one of the star witnesses in the court also helped to vindicate the accused as he confirmed knowing the CSO as his father’s client and also getting a carpentry job from Pastor Jimoh who was then a pastor of MFM at Ogbomoso.
Jimoh and Ogbomoso
Pastor Jimoh was a pastor of a parish of MFM at Ogbomoso. He was there for about six months. It was while there that he had a relationship with the son of the herbalist who was a nominal member of the church and had given him the contract for some carpentry work at the Ogbomoso branch.
He travelled to Lagos after awarding the job only to return to Ogbomosho to find out the work had not been done. Pronto, he got two other members of the parish to trace the son of the herbalist to his house. On getting there, the herbalist’s son known as Oriyomi Amaoo came out to meet him and apologised for not doing the work he had been paid for. He said it was because his father had been sick.
It was while doing that the CSO to Dr Olukoya who had allegedly come to consult the herbalist father of the church member came out of the house.
Femi Jimoh said he was startled to see the CSO who pretended not to see him. The son of the herbalist later confirmed he was a long-term patron of his father.
Back in Lagos, the CSO pleaded with Jimoh not to let anybody know about his visit to the herbalist. They both had a mutual agreement not to spill the beans.
It was in the course of the new-found love between Pastor Jimoh and the CSO that he demanded some favour for a good posting for his ministerial work. Jimoh said the CSO asked him to bring his credentials. That was what took him to the CSO’s house when he was arrested by the police and was accused of trying to rob the church and also kill the G.O. of the church.
Caleb Oloruntele
Caleb Oloruntele on the other hand said his travail began when he refused to implicate a security officer of the church as directed by the CSO to Pastor Olukoya. He said he got to know of his sin when one of the police officers said to him, “By the time God delivers you from this problem you will realise why it is important to do what your boss asks you to do”
Ironically, both Jimoh and Oloruntele claimed they met for the first time in prison despite working in the same church. But the MFM authority said they all conspired to rob the church; a case they could not prove in the court.
Oloruntele used to be a Muslim. He was in the church when he was arrested and accused of planning to rob the church forcefully of its first fruit offering.
Before then he was head of the traffic ushers of the church and had served the church diligently since the early 90s when he joined.
Witnesses not coherent
Going through the judgment, it became clear that many of the witnesses brought in by the prosecution (Church on the platform of Lagos State) were speaking from both sides of the mouth.
The judge noted that their statements were contradictory and could not clearly show that the trio of Jimoh, Oloruntele, and Aiyeworo indeed planned to rob the church.
The judge stated, “I find that the contradictory testimonies of the witnesses of the prosecution cannot establish the fact from which the court is being invited to make inference that there was a conspiracy. No such inference can be made from the documentary evidence either.”
In delivering her judgment, the judge said, “I find and hold that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The defendants are therefore acquitted and discharged.”
Re-orientation
The incarceration of both Jimoh and Oloruntele has however changed their perspectives about church. Jimoh says he would no longer be part of any church because of his experience in MFM. He however plans to go into prison ministry if God gives him the grace so he could help a lot of people who find it difficult to make a living after their incarceration. Oloruntele on the other hand expressed deep pain and bemoaned his experience with the church. He pleaded with people not to allow what he passed through to dampen their faith.
As it is, the claim by the church that the duo of Jimoh and Oloruntele were attempting to rob the church is high-sounding and baseless. With the court’s ruling, it is evident that the case is trite. But it remains painful that three people would be in prison for 9 years for contemplating an action that was never carried out. Their case is a classic case of man’s inhumanity to man.
Let’s even assume they tried to rob the church and their plans were foiled. One would have thought the G.O. would, as a father be benevolent and step into the matter. He should have looked for a way of rehabilitating them rather than throwing them into the den of the lion.
Now that the case has gone the full hug of the law, it is left for MFM leadership to do the needful. Many are also concerned about the CSO’s herbalist connection, which he had denied.
But then, if the star witnesses of the MFM are found wanting in the court of law, the CSO’s claim that he had never been to Ogbomoso should be given a second look.
Even at that, this epic case of attempted robbery which left three people in prison for 9 years unjustly will continue to be a slur on the church and indeed on Dr. Olukoya. This is not a time to hide under the veneer of, touch not my anointed. It is time for the erudite Professor of Biochemistry and church leader to look into this matter with the mind of God and do the needful. The world is waiting.
By Gbenga Osinaike
copyright @churchtimesnigeria
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