Posted by By EBOMHIANA MUSA on
What seems a holy war is gradually brewing between two revered men of God, who oversee some of the biggest and crowd pulling new generation churches in the city of Lagos.
What seems a holy war is gradually brewing between two revered men of God, who oversee some of the biggest and crowd pulling new generation churches in the city of Lagos.
The feud which has the trappings of battle of the titans is between the General Overseer of Lord Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministry, Pastor Lazarus Muoka and the trendy and charismatic overseer of Christ Chosen Generation Revival Ministry, Pastor Eze Nnamdi Ofoegbu.
Twice, Ofoegbu had been 'invited" to the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command Onikan over allegations of threats to the life of Muoka.
The first letter, dated November 29, 2006 and signed by one M. Adisa (DSP) on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (CID) while the other dated January 24, 2007 was signed by one Emmanuel Ogolo (SP) for the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, Onikan. Ofoegbu was" required in the name of the president, Federal Republic of Nigeria to report to the zonal criminal and intelligence Bureau Office… to answer to allegations of threat to life by you against very important persons including the General overseer of the Lord Chosen Charismatic Revival Church."
Ofoegbu has cried foul to all these, alleging that Muoka was after him using the police with trump-up charges simply because they parted ways sometime in September 2006. He broke away from Muoka's church to establish his own in Festac, in response to the call of God.
Following the series of invitations from the police, Ofoegbu has picked the gauntlet and has written a two-page letter to Muoka dated December 7, 2007, titled" letter of notification/demand for refund." Ofoegbu is demanding the sum of N317 million from his former pastor (Muoka) being what he sank into the church from inception up to the time they parted ways. He says it was an investment, based on an unwritten agreement between them. He has also taken his case to the EFCC.
'What I am asking for is the fulfillment of the agreement we both entered into, an investment into the work of God for which there will be profit and returns. We both agreed that I invest my life savings and that we are going to reap it many fold when the time comes. I believed him and I invested all that I had including the one that did not belong to me. When the time of harvest came he started finding faults with me to embarrass me and frustrate me out of the church.
A man invests with the hope of reaping, I started investing in this project since 2004. From that time till when I left I had invested over N300m, that expanse of land where the church is today and the fleet of luxury buses you see there are part of the investments, the planting of the church in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, Abidjan, Ikoyi and Ibadan are also part of the investments. These are aside the series of crusades we held across the country and beyond."
Does a Christian or anybody, demand for a refund of what he has done for God? Hear Ofoegbu: 'I am not asking for what I have given to the Lord, far from it. If you have given to the Lord, you have given to the Lord. What you give to the Lord are tithes, and offerings in different forms.
Nobody goes back to say I want my offering back or I want my tithes back, no. If you give these to the house of God, you have given to the Lord."
'I only mention these because these are the areas. Where he said I should go ahead and put money and that the church was going to refund me. There are so many other areas like advertising in print and electronic media which I cannot really go into now. It got to a point when I had spent virtually what I had, in fact, it was like he hypnotized me, he cast a spell on me whereby I was pumping money into the church foolishly, now the scales have fallen off my eyes, I now realize my folly".
In the letter to Muoka, Ofoegbu pointedly told him that" I wish to notify you that the spell is broken. I am awake to a realization that it was not normal and I hereby demand for a refund, especially for the repayment of the money of my partner from you and your organization."
The raging Ofoegbu added that" I want the EFCC to intervene in this matter, infact, I have done a petition which I intend to forward to them next week because there are a lot of people these day who dupe and hypnotize innocent people in the name of God. The victims are mostly rich people in the society. I think, this should be checked." All efforts to make Muoka react proved abortive; his aides were not ready to volunteer information when contacted on their cell phones.