Posted by By Ayodele Lawal, Tunde Lemuel & Paul Sanusi on
The property of All Round Success Ministries International, a.k.a. Jesus Christ Foundation Assembly, located at Plot 12, Isaacstan Close, Off Wempco Road, Volvo Bus Stop, Ogba, were on Monday, thrown out by the property owners.
The property of All Round Success Ministries International, a.k.a. Jesus Christ Foundation Assembly, located at Plot 12, Isaacstan Close, Off Wempco Road, Volvo Bus Stop, Ogba, were on Monday, thrown out by the property owners.
The action was taken after the owners accused the pastor in charge of the church of issuing dud cheques as rent for the property.
Speaking with P.M.News, the brother of the owner of the land, Otunba Kehinde Adeosun, said, 'the landed property measuring 5642.752 square metres was leased to Pastor A. Umo George, the Senior Pastor of the church, on 1 March, 2002, for 5 years, and which expired on 28 February, 2007.
'The pastor decided to buy the land after the expiration of the lease for N80 million. But to our amazement, he issued us a dud cheque drawn on Fidelity Bank Plc on three different occasions.
'On march 28, 2007, he gave cheque No. 217 for the sum of N40 million, while on April 3, 2007 a cheque No. 218 was issued for N20 million. The third one was given on April 6, 2007 for N17.5 million via cheque number 219.
'This same Pastor had sometime in 2006 given us a letter purportedly written by United Bank for Africa Plc. to him to inform us about their readiness to finance the purchase of the said property,' said Adeosun.
Following investigation, P.M.News discovered that the church had earlier been served two letters of reminder urging it to surrender the possession of the land on or before the expiration of the lease. The first was written on 21 August, 2006, while the second was dated 31 January, 2007.
Meanwhile, the owners, through their solicitors had petitioned the Inspector General of Police, via their letter dated 30 July, 2007, informing him about the alleged fraudulent activities of Pastor George.
The petition was later transferred to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos, via a letter written by CP Solomon Arase, Principal Staff Officer to the Inspector General of Police, on 31 July, 2007.
All attempts to speak with Pastor George in court yesterday at Ikeja, proved abortive as he said, 'this is not the right time to talk.' He was in court where he tried to settle the matter with the property owners, but his moves were rebuffed and his church property were removed from the premises.