At about 8:15pm on 8 September, Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, alias Winners’ Chapel, was in Abeokuta to meet with Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State. The meeting was facilitated by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, whom Oyedepo contacted to reach out to Amosun. The governor was said to be seething over the latest controversy involving Oyedepo and his church.
•Oyedepo: His church members assaulted journalists and Ogun tax officials
Two days earlier, some members of the church assaulted a team of officials of the Ogun State Ministry Of Urban and Physical Planning, who had gone to the church’s headquarters in Ota to serve building inspection notices, as well as two journalists attached to Ogun State Television.
Peter Falomo, a reporter, and Lekan Egunjobi, a cameraman, were the worst hit. A statement issued by Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, Ogun State Commisioner for Information and Strategy, said the journalists were savagely beaten, their camera seized, the recording deleted and the camera damaged before it was released. Olaniyonu alleged that Oyedepo was present, watching the assault as though it was a spectator sport. “The assault was witnessed by the Head Pastor of the Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, who equally was visibly angry at the decision of the officials to attempt to carry out their statutory duties in his church premises,” said Olaniyonu. The commissioner added that Oyedepo repeatedly spewed insults at the officials and asked why they imagined they had the licence to regulate building of structures for commercial purposes in his church premises.
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