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Ajanaku’s family threatens widow with court case

‘Release his corpse now for burial!’

Few days after disruption of church service and temporary closure by late prophet Ajanaku’s family, his widow, Rose Ajanaku has resumed ministration. However, we learnt the family members have agreed to take legal action against her for caging their son’s corpse inside the morgue and preventing them from organising a befitting burial for him.

ENCOMIUM Weekly’s check on Sunday, March 30, 2014, revealed that the ministry held their usual service but with less members and with no usual fanfare.

ENCOMIUM Weekly visited the church during their Sunday service. It commenced as usual with its usual lined up programmes – Sunday school, praise and worship, renditions of songs by the choir, giving of offering and sermon.

The delectable widow still presides over the affairs of the church, with the help of one Ifemide Akinboni, who was reportedly anointed sometime last year by the late pastor. She is a singer who reportedly replaced Tope Alabi.

Though the environment seemed cold, as there were only few worshippers, they observed Mother’s Day like every other church did. Most of the members were not ready to give out any information about the church. ENCOMIUM Weekly tried to speak with few about recent happenings in the church but they all declined.

It was reported that the lingering tussle between the widow of the late clergy and family members a fortnight ago reached a crescendo when some of the family members stormed the premises of the ministry around 8 am and blocked the entrance of the church. Worshippers were stunned when they got to church but met a brick wall. They quickly contacted their new General overseer, Joy, who was so annoyed over the development. It was reported that she was so annoyed over the incident that she directed one of her aides to contact the police. She was angry that after confiscating her husband’s property, they still have the effrontery to encroach on the ministry which has been her source of livelihood for now.

Sadly, her plan to invite the police turned against her as they advised her to keep it sealed till they sort out their differences.

“She thought the police would be on her side but she got a rude shock. Unknown to her, the family had contacted the police at Command, Ipaja, before embarking on their move. Their grievances were that she kept the corpse of their son for too long. They claimed that she denied them access to his corpse and prevented them from organising his burial. According to them, they are fed up with the confession that her husband who has been certified dead medically is not dead yet.”

Although the church has been reopened, we learnt they have threatened to drag her to court if she fails to produce the corpse by April 2014.

Barely six months after the demise of the controversial Gbogan, Osun born spiritualist and former spiritual father of Yoruba gospel singer, Tope Alabi, members have dumped the once buoyant ministry. ENCOMIUM Weekly checks revealed that the ministry which recorded over two thousand members at times during the days of the late prophet now barely record 60 members. According to our source, this is not unconnected to the fact that majority were members due to the alleged spiritual power of the prophet and his prophetic messages which are now conspicuously missing.

A source also squealed to us that he left because he was not comfortable with the way they handle his death issue. “I wasn’t too happy with the stuff going on there, especially with the way they are going about his death issue. They quarrel with people who admitted that he is dead. We are not fools and everybody knows he has been certified dead, why the confusion? Some of his aides have turned the administration of the church to politics which I am not comfortable with.”

Aside that, we learnt some left due to the many alleged controversies surrounding his death and several speculations about his involvement in occultism. They felt betrayed when the church authority didn’t have good explanation about the whole issue.

“Why keep everybody in the dark about such issues,” a source queried.

A source who witnessed the Sunday service few weeks back said the presiding pastor, Pastor (Mrs.) Joy Ajanaku was the preacher and that over half of the congregation was absent. Aside that, he claimed that some of the over hundred members in attendance were sleeping during sermon.

HOW MUCH THE CHURCH HAS SPENT IN PRESERVING HIS CORPSE

ENCOMIUM Weekly confirmed authoritatively that the church has spent about N600,000 at preserving his corpse at the mortuary at Military Hospital, Yaba, Lagos. ENCOMIUM Weekly’s check on Friday, February 28, 2014, revealed that N1,500 was for the form and about N100,000 was for deposit of corpse, especially for VIPs. Then, preservation fee is N1000 per day normally but for those who want special treatment they pay N1,500 daily. We gathered that Pastor Ajanaku fell into this category. Thus, for six months, the church has paid about N300,000 on preservation alone. That excludes the other expenses on tips for attendants, amongst other things.

This was confirmed to us by one of the attendants, Mr. Yeyibo.

WHERE WILL HE BE BURIED?

Despite the disagreement between the family members and the disciples of late Prophet Ireti Ajanaku over his burial plans and date, ENCOMIUM Weekly gathered that he would be buried in Lagos. Although, the family prefer either his Lagos home or hometown, Gbogan, Osun State, they decided to respect the deceased’s wish to be buried at his church in Lagos.

HOW THE CHURCH IS RUN

Since the death of the controversial clergy, his widow, Joy, has been in charge as the general overseer of the ministry. Information available to ENCOMIUM Weekly revealed that she has been in charge of ministrations at Sunday services since her husband’s demise.

We reliably gathered that she has been the brain behind her late hubby’s online stuffs, books and tapes before his demise. However, due to the myriad of issues she is having with the family, we gathered she is still hooked up in a rented apartment at Abule Egba, Lagos.

AJANAKU’S LAST HOUR

The whole palaver began on Sunday, August 18, 2013, when it was reported that the controversial clergy passed on, on Saturday, August 17, 2013, at Gbongan, Osun state. Few hours later, it was announced that he had resurrected. ENCOMIUM Weekly later gathered that his church members brought his corpse to Lagos and started a vigil, praying for his resurrection. However, on Thursday, August 22, 2013, he was certified dead by a team of medical doctors. His corpse was deposited at the Military Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, August 25, 2013. While the family members knew their son was dead, the church members still held on to the belief that he only went on a spiritual exercise.

 – FEMI OYEWALE and TOLA AFE

Encomium

Written by Encomium

A media, tech and events company.

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One Comment

  1. Ur lie plenty enconium. Leave Ajanaku alone. Haba! Let d man rest now. All ur story na fake. Wen u went to d church did u see the wife n talk to her? God will catch u one day wt all dis fake story o. If u like no post my comment! Hungry Magazine

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