If you call it a holy war, you might not be far from the
truth. Right now, all is not well between two popular Pentecostal churches in
Nigeria. And the cause of the feud? A parcel of land.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), which has
Pastor E.A. Adeboye as General Overseer, and Christ Embassy, headed by Pastor
Chris Oyakhilome, are involved in a big fight over a parcel of land situated
along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The land, which the Redeemed Church claims it owns, is
spread across Oloke, Asese, Maba and Gideon villages in Ogun State. RCCG says
Christ Embassy has been using policemen and hoodlums to cause trouble on the
land.
Authorities of the Redeemed Church are, therefore, appealing
to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. M.D. Abubakar, to use his good offices
to avert an impending crisis in the villages. According to the church, a
structure put up there by RCCG was earlier in the year demolished by some
alleged land grabbers working for Christ Embassy.
The church noted that the appeal to the IG had become
necessary so that the nation’s top cop could help resolve the matter, even as
it accused the other church of deliberately employing delay tactics to
frustrate the rightful owners of the land.
The crisis, it was gathered, has been on for long before
reaching a head in March this year.
According to the RCCG, hoodlums, armed with dangerous
weapons, (allegedly led by one Lukman Jimoh, aka Ogo Oluwa), and purportedly
acting on the instructions of the Christ Embassy Church, had on March 19, this
year, invaded the villages in a Volvo car and Toyota Hiace bus, destroying the
headquarters of Ogun Province 8 of The Redeemed Christian Church of God under
construction.
The Redeemed Church informed that the guard at the site, who
reportedly escaped death by the whiskers, said the hoodlums told him to stay
clear of the land, adding that the property belonged to the Christ Embassy
which they were working for.
“The thugs threatened to kill me or anybody who stood in
their way and boasted that nothing would happen because, according to them,
they and the police have been “heavily settled,” the guard was quoted as
saying.
In a petition addressed to the Inspector General of Police,
the RCCG asked the IG to intervene in the case of trespass on the church land
and the malicious damage to the church property.
RCCG said it had done everything within the ambit of the law
to possess the land. The church said despite the fact that the land falls under
the government acquisition area, the church had, in June 1999, paid
ratification fees for the land to the late Alhaji Tajudeen Ogo Oluwa (Lukman’s
father), who subsequently gave the church a Deed of Surrender signed by him and
witnessed by one Waidi Ogunsesan (aka Damolapa).
The church said it was also given allocation of the land for
99 years by the Ogun State Government, in a letter with reference number LUD
9/LCI33/6, signed by the Director-General, Bureau of Lands and Survey, Surveyor
Gbenga Ogunnoike.
Ogun State also issued a Certificate of Occupancy with the
Number 025748, dated November 7, 2006 and signed by the governor, to the RCCG.
It was also gathered that, in 2004, the Redeemed Christian
Church of God wrote to the Presiding Pastor of the Christ Embassy Church,
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, following a programme held by the latter on the
disputed land.
The letter, signed by the Assistant General Overseer,
Admin/Personnel of the RCCG, Pastor A. O. Akindele, partly reads: “It has come
to our notice that your organization is inadvertently trespassing on the piece
of land measuring about forty acres (40 acres) along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway,
precisely at Oloke Area.
“We wish to inform you that this parcel of land belongs to
the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and we have seized (sic) of the land for
more than four years.
“We shall appreciate your prompt intervention and godly
directive to one Alhaji Ogo Oluwa, who has held himself out as your agent, to
desist forthwith in continuing with the trespass.”
The RCCG, it was learnt, also went ahead to solicit the help
of officials of the Ogun State Government who invited the two parties with a
view to settling the dispute. At the meeting, presided over by the then
Director General, Bureau of Lands and Survey, Mr. Gbenga Ogunnoike and held at
the Bureau’s office at Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta, the state government affirmed that
the Redeemed Christian Church of God which has the duly issued Certificate of
Occupancy of the land, is the rightful owner. The meeting also warned the
Christ Embassy from further trespassing on the land.
But the Redeemed Church said it was shocked that in spite of
the resolution, the Christ Embassy Church and its agents still went ahead to
demolish the structure put up on the land, which prompted the church to write
to the Inspector General.
The IG, it was learnt, directed the Eleweran Police
headquarters in Ogun State to quickly resolve the matter. But RCCG said nothing
tangible has been achieved since. According to the church, the hoodlums, who
boasted that nothing would come out of the matter, were already being proved
right.
“Meanwhile, the hoodlums are still occupying the land and
they keep threatening the other owner families of other plots of land who are
ready to act as witnesses for the church,” the RCCG noted.
Attempts by our correspondent to reach Christ Embassy
officials were unfruitful
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