Posted by By Duro Ikhazuagbe on
The controversy surrounding the failed Benny Hinn Crusade in Lagos has taken a different dimension with Bishop Peter Okoduwa, one of the pastors alleged to have asked for money to be part of the event denying that he never received a kobo from the organisers.
The controversy surrounding the failed Benny Hinn Crusade in Lagos has taken a different dimension with Bishop Peter Okoduwa, one of the pastors alleged to have asked for money to be part of the event denying that he never received a kobo from the organisers.
Okoduwa told THISDAY on in Lagos that he was embarrassed by media reports that he asked and got N2 million to co-ordinate affairs for the three-day crusade planned which took last month at the Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
'I deny in strong terms that I did not receive one naira from anybody not to talk of N2 million," he said.
Okoduwa, who is also the Bishop of Dispensational Gospel Mission (DGM), said when he was appointed as a co-coordinator of the crusade he spent money out of his pocket to fund media campaign to attract people to the event.
'I personally led Bishop Obembe and some members of the Central Working Committee to both Minaj Television and MITV on an awareness drive and also held press briefings out of my pocket. But members of CWC who were impressed with my work asked me to apply for N2 million out of the budget for the crusade. I did on the eve of my travel to the United States," he noted.
Okoduwa said he did not know that it was a trap set by some people who did not want his involvement in the crusade.
'Because I was on my way to the U.S, I left instruction that they pick up the request letter from my Personal Assistant a day after I left for America," he added.
He said he was shocked to learn on the day he came back to Nigeria that the said letter had been circulated among pentecostal pastors in Lagos that he requested for money for phone calls and mobilisation.
'When I called Dr. Wilson Badejo of Foursquare Church he told me he has a copy of the letter and that he was also told that he Okoduwa had collected N500,000 already. I then called Bishop Abraham Oyeniran. He was shocked. He Bishop Oyeniran said he was the one mandated to bring some money to me but because I was out of town he had to hold back," he said.
'But because of the controversy surrounding the money I insisted that even if Benny Hinn offered me half of the money he was bringing for the crusade I wont take it." Stressed the DGM pastor.
Bishop Okoduwa said he was relieved when he eventually got a letter, Jon Wilson from the coordinator for Benny Hinn, that he (Okoduwa) along with others appointed by the Pentecostal Fellowship (PFN)were no longer needed for the crusade.
' I have offered to speak out against directive by PFN that we refrain from press interviews till the outcome of the panel investigating the matter because my name and integrity is involved. I will talk on the crusade and the embarrasment caused this great nation and the PFN at the appropriate time," concludes the agrieved man of God.