By Okereke Udoakpuenyi and Victoria Ibezundu, YeyeNews.com, September 9, 2021
When Nigerians were taking a breather from series of charged church tithe and offering discussions that pervaded the Nigerian social media space, a pastor and his member had to thrust the issue back into the forefront with a twist.
YeyeNews.com learned that Pastor Jerry Owusi, the General Overseer of Assembly of the Beautiful Bride, Lagos, on August 25, 2021 instituted a civil case at Lagos High Court against someone he claims to be his member. In the suit Pastor Owusi is claiming N3.65 million as 10 percent tithe, N980,000 as owed offerings, and N2.5 million as payment for emotional damage from one Mr. Kingsley Ezeokonkwo, a businessman whom the suit claims lives in Kubwa part of Abuja.
When contacted intitially, Pastor Owusi declined to comment and asked us to contact his lawyer Barrister Tijani Akintobi, of Efelu, Odigia & Wodi Chambers. Barrister Akintobi told YeyeNews.com straight-up that there was nothing to say as the matter would be adjudicated in court. However, when the reporter pressed, he gave details of the case: Mr. Ezeokonkwo won a lottery in Lagos worth about N36.5 million; he did not attend thanksgiving his wife arranged; he stopped coming to church where he used to be every Sunday for regular service, Wednesday for mid-week service, and most Friday nights or vigil; he did not take calls from Pastor Owusi anymore and screened his calls through a personal assistant (PA) he hired against the advice of his wife; he decided to move to Abuja and changed his number; when the pastor got his new number and called him through an intermediary, he claimed he didn’t know any Pastor Owusi.
Since YeyeNews.com wanted to get to the bottom of this matter, our reporter visited Assembly of the Beautiful Bride, Lagos the following Sunday. After so much persuasion, he was granted five minutes that turned into 30 minutes by and with Pastor Owusi.
Pastor claimed that Mr Okonkwo was poor and had nothing when he started coming to his church after he ministered to him at his shop at Ijesha market. “I have fought so many spiritual battles on his head, defeated people that tied down his destiny down in Okoh, Anambra State, where he is from. Name anything, I did it for this man. I even went with him to Okoh to dig out things buried in his father’s compound. I didn’t get paid because his shop was vandalized, and his goods stolen and that was why we scheduled that family deliverance.”
YeyeNews.com reporter wanted to know the kind of person Mr. Okonkwo was.
“He was a good member, a good son. He gave when he had. Generally, he was a good person even though I caught him twice playing hanky-panky with some girls”, Pastor Owusi said
“What did you do?”, YeyeNews.com reporter asked.
“He confessed. I counseled him. God forgave him so I forgave him and never mentioned it to anyone, not even to his wife. He was a good son in the Lord”, Pastor Owusi answered.
“He had nothing. Through my continual contact and interventions, things started happening in his life. He met his wife – one of my daughters in the Lord – in this church. Things happen in this church. Lives change here. Anyi na ebunye ike ebea (We imbue people with power here)”, he added.
On why Mr. Okonkwo would take these steps enumerated by Barrister Akintobi, Pastor Owusi did not know; he said it was the devil using some forces to damage his relationship with Mr. Okonkwo. He pleaded with us to locate and talk to him before this matter blew into the open.
YeyeNews.com got Mr. Okonkwo’s number and through text message exchanges he finally decided to have a phone chat with us.
He admitted that he was very close to Pastor Owusi and that the man tried for him through prayer but that the pastor was a hypocrite. When YeyeNews.com asked him to expatiate, he declined to elaborate and said it was not good to speak ill of a man of God.
When YeyeNews.com reporter told him that it was not ill-speaking if the matter was true and we told him that Pastor Owusi claimed to have caught him with two women and did not tell his wife, his lid came off, and he said some unprintable things a reputable media like YeyeNews.com should not put in print. He admitted affairs with the girls and said that was before he got married. He said the first girl was a mistake as he was emotionally down and when he stopped the relationship and started with the second girl, the first girl reported him to the pastor. Unknown to him, the first girl used to be pastor’s side-chick.
“Before now I planned to give him N1 million but with this court case and smearing of my person, I’m not going to give him even one naira”, he said, agitated.
YeywNews.com wanted to know why he planned to give him N1 million in the first place.
“You see, this pastor preached against lottery, against BET Naija. How can I give him tithe from lottery?”, he responded.
“So it was never about withholding tithe or 10 percent?”, YeyeNews.com asked
“No. I paid tithe, gave my offering. I just don’t feel good paying tithe from the money I earned on what he preached against”, he answered.
“But why did you play lottery if your pastor was preaching against it?”, YeyeNews.com asked.
“Is the lottery not about numbers? Is the Book of Numbers not in the bible? Didn’t the apostle cast lot in Acts 1:26? Anyway, things were rough for me and my family and one day I had a dream where I was complaining to God about my sufferings and hard work and nothing to show for it and a voice said to me: “Expand your luck. Meet me halfway.” I started playing Baba Ijebu to expand my luck and meet God halfway. I have been playing for 4 years though I didn’t do football betting.”
“Do you know what?”, he asked.
“What?”, YeyeNews.com reporter reacted
YeyeNews.com will continue this story
