Pastors @ War

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