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A Nigerian accountant and part-time pastor in the United Kingdom, Sam Kayode, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing £4.1m. Kayode was sentenced on Friday by Woolwich Crown Court in South London for defrauding Haberdashers’ Aske’s state schools in the UK. The part-time pastor, who earned £57,000 per annum, was convicted after being found guilty of £150,000 theft and £3.95m fraud. Out of the £4.1m, only £800,000 was recovered from him.
Described as “dishonest” and “greedy”, the court heard how Kayode lavished the loot on four women – his wife, Grace; a second ‘wife’ in Nigeria, Olubunmi Halima; and two other women in the UK. British prosecutor, James Thacker, said he also bought luxury cars, including a Mercedes, an Audi TT sports car and an Infiniti car with the money. The court also heard how for seven years, the convict looted the accounts of Haberdashers. He was said to be secretive, locking himself in his office to work late “after arriving in a Mercedes, wearing £500 Gucci shoes and carrying a Louis Vuitton briefcase.” Thacker said the father of four from Ilford, East London, was too arrogant to admit his guilt even after he was caught red-handed in 2012. Kayode tried to blame the crime on his late wife and a junior colleague, saying they conspired to tarnish his image by transferring the money to his account in revenge for his adultery. His crime was exposed when a school cleaner stumbled on some of Kayode’s documents. The cleaner was said to have made an anonymous call to the schools’ Chief Finance Officer, Yvonne Smithers.
The accounts manager started work at Haberdashers’ – which has links with the public schools of the same name – in 1997. According to the prosecutor, in 2006, Kayode starting using the BACS (a system in the UK for making payments directly from one bank account to another) money transfer system to put “tens of thousands at a time directly into a joint account held with wife Grace.” He added, “He then spent up to £98,000 a month.” Apart from spending money on his wife’s health care until her death in 2013, Kayode also signed documents showing he was making investments with Halima, and renting flats in Kent for ‘partners’ Toyin Lawal and Yetunde Turtak.
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Nigeria’s chronically controversial prophet and healer, T.B. Joshua, has released a video claiming that he predicted Brexit in a video dated 25th December, 2011.
Joshua is seen stating: “We pray for this European community because I see the Euro which holds them together will be affected and many countries will want to go back.”
On 24th June 2016, the British people chose to bow out of the European Union, a community they had been a strong and active member of for over 40 years.
The United Kingdom is not the only country with such tendencies. The Washington post, reported that five other countries may be critically considering the move, namely: France, Sweden, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands.The BBC reported: “France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen said the French must now also have the right to choose. Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders said the Netherlands deserved a “Nexit” vote while Italy’s Northern League said: “Now it’s our turn”.
This is not the first time T.B. Joshua has been making such predictions. On regular occasions, he uses his TV station, Emmanuel TV to prophesy to the world during live events at his popular The SCOAN (The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations).He is also known for forecasting the passing of Michael Jackson as well as the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370. Recently, he is also said to have predicted the Paris Terror attacks as well as the devaluation of the Naira, Nigeria’s national currency.
While many are critical of his predictions, others embrace them. His prophecies have been known to cause a stir, locally and sometimes nationally.
Recently, he is said to have predicted an impending terrorist attack in Ghana. There was a nationwide outcry in response with the National Police Force and even the president calling for calm in the wake of the purported prophecy.
Joshua has a large following online with 2.2 million followers on Facebook and 350,000+ subscribers on his YouTube channel, Emmanuel TV.
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Christians in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north have demanded authorities do more to protect them after a woman was stabbed over an alleged religious dispute. President Mohammadu Buhari has pleaded for religious tolerance.
Nigerian authorities said 74-year-old Bridget Abahime, an ethnic Igbo trader and wife of a pastor, was "mobbed and extra-judicially murdered" on Thursday at a market in Kano, Nigeria's largest northern city.
Following reports that the woman was killed over a perceived insult on Prophet Muhammad, the northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria said police are not doing enough to protect Christians and warned Saturday of a "looming religious crisis."
Such attacks have historically led to retaliations and sectarian violence.
"This barbarism must stop now," said the association's spokesman, Rev. John Hayab. He accused police of trying to cover up the killing.
Nigeria's national police chief Solomon Arase said Saturday that two suspects had been arrested, and appealed for calm on all sides. He added security forces were being deployed to Kano - the site of previous sectarian clashes - to prevent the incident from "degenerating into a major security threat."
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Nigerian news media naij.com reports that a pastor from Winners Chapel, Adeniyi Johnson, has been arrested with pieces of fried meat, suspected to be human parts .The middle-aged pastor was mobbed by followers after an incident where the said pastor brought out pieces of fried human flesh fried from his bag and was sharing for the public to join him in eating.
Suspicious of his invitation, the pastor was searched and was found to be carrying the fetish items founds, upon interrogation, he said he was divinely instructed to go and share the meat to save his dying son.
The bizarre tale of the human meat pastor has sparked a discourse on social media as some Nigerians are labelling the Winners Chapel church a fake place of worship, while other die-heart followers call the news a smear campaign to tarnish the image of the church.
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Joshua Iginla, the Senior Pastor of Champions Royal Assembly in Abuja, gave out several millions of naira to the aged, widows, orphanages and scholarships to orphans from nursery school to university on Sunday as he celebrated his birthday according to The Vanguard.
“I’m seeing many of them for the first time today. I am seeing Jide Kosoko for the first time”, said Senior Pastor Ignla
Senior pastor Ignla also gave six Nollywood actors and actresses Hummer jeep 3 series, Mercedes G-Wagon and Mercedes CLS 550. They include Jide Kosoko, Francis Duru, Alex Usifo, Ngozi Osondu, Thelma Nwosu and Sunday Omobolanle, popularly known as Babaluwe.
According to Vanguard Iginla gave cars to the Nollywood actors because many of them were poor but people erroneously think they were rich. According to him, the fruit of the Nollywood artistes were being reaped by pirates and challenged government to do something to arrest it.
“The Nollywood actors and actresses are our ambassadors; they have projected the image of this country positively”, said Senior Pastor Ignla
Although the Pastor already caters to at least 782 widows and orphans, he gave away 1.5 million Naira (7500 USD) to Treasure Orphanage Foundation, Nyanya, Divine Wound Orphanage, Kubwa and Christ Home Foundation each plus awarded scholarships from nursery to university to some orphans.
Artisans got generators and cash gifts while the widows got deep freezers, rice and cash gifts ranging from N150,000 to N1.5 million.
“It doesn’t matter to me if I trek home as I have given even the car that I personally drive. I can only drive one car and live in one house at a time. This understanding is what has taught me that when I die, others will inherit my assets. The beauty of life is not in its duration but in its donation. I have not seen some of the beneficiaries before in my life or spoken to them.” Said the Pastor to Vanguard
Iginla had, in 2015, given 18 cars and millions of naira as birthday gifts to people to celebrate his birthday.
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The controversial founder of one of Europe's largest Protestant churches is battling some in his church leadership over his reaction to multiple affairs.
Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian pastor who leads the charismatic Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, has admitted to having affairs with parishioners. The confession came one month after he posted a video on his blog titled “Sexual Sin Is Not Enough to Take You to Hell.”
The female parishioners revealed the affairs to other area pastors, who then took the information public, according to the Council of Bishops of Christian Evangelical Churches of Ukraine. (English version here.) The leaders warned Ukrainian Christians about Adelaja, also noting previous allegations that he bilked investors of $100 million in a Ponzi scheme called King's Capital.
Earlier, a website called ZimEye claimed to have exposed Adelaja by having an undercover reporter pose as a “prophet” and secretly record a February phone call with the pastor. The elders of Embassy of God publicly dismissed the report as a prank.
“If you have listened to the audio recording which was fraudulently obtained, you will notice that Pastor Sunday never once admitted to any wrong doing as the caller was suggesting in his prophetic utterances,” stated the elders. “It was the prophet that was rather putting words into Pastor Sunday’s mouth. If Pastor Sunday had anything to hide he would not have taken the call with his wife present.”
The elders—which include Adelaja’s wife Bose and three others—noted that Adelaja has already acknowledged that he “has had several sexual challenges and has by God’s grace being able to overcome them.”
“Pastor Sunday has always shared with the world that he is in a position to help minister to the world only because he himself has had his own share of trials including sexual trials, problems and victories,” stated the elders.
Then last month, Adelaja confessed to the affairs at a meeting of more than 200 pastors. He was “defrocked” and removed from preaching (among other leadership duties) after confessing to “fornication,” according to the Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (ROSHVE).
“Although we have had a long time to notice warning signs in the life and ministry of this man, what we talked about and to him personally and publicly in official statements of the Union, we did not want until the last moment to believe that there are such serious sins in his life,” the Spiritual Board of ROSHVE wrote. They questioned whether Adelaja's affairs might have been covered up by those close to him.
“We have serious questions to the ministers, who were and are members of the Council of the Apostles and the elders of the church ‘Embassy of God,’ to the closest aides and deputies [of Adelaja], about their actions (or rather—of the criminal inaction) in this situation,” the board wrote. “After all, the timely and rigorous exposure could prevent this tragedy!”
In a Russian-language press release on March 24, ROSHVE stated that Adelaja would enter a season of “recovery.”
An Embassy of God administrator told CT that the church has not issued a public statement because it is “regarded as an inside matter.” The administrator said Adelaja has voluntarily “decided to step down” for six months due to the recent accusations and the ongoing “strenuous lawsuit” over King’s Capital.
He was also planning to move from Ukraine to Nigeria. “He needs this time to recuperate and prepare,” said the administrator.
The six months would also be "enough time" for some critics within the church to “cool down and find answers.”
But Adelaja’s Facebook and blog have remained active, and neither they nor the church’s website mentions the sabbatical.
Several of those close to him have accused him of thwarting attempts to help or discipline.
“I am not a professional psychiatrist, nor profess to be one, but you never addressed the sins you committed against those innocent women, many of which are married,” wrote Ulysses Tuff, founder and pastor at The Way, The Truth, and The Life Christian Center in Georgia, to Adelaja in a letter obtained by CT. He has been Adelaja’s mentor since 1995.
“If I had to use words to describe and give a very general perspective about you, I would choose such words as hallucination of grandeur, narcissistic, or sociopathic behavior,” Tuff continued.
“Yet, you said that according to 1 Cor. 2:2-10, everything you are going through is connected to your Apostleship,” he wrote. “Not Paul, nor any of the apostles in preparation for apostleship were found to have defiled 20, 30, or more women (this number of women was what you said on my first night meeting with you, you also said there could be more, you don’t remember). It is damaging to the integrity and laws of scriptural interpretation, how you have twisted the scripture to paint a picture of your sainthood and my life as one that was so grievous.”
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