Encomium
IT’S not the best of times for the General Overseer and founder of Living Faith Tabernacle, a.k.a Winners Chapel, as the eloquent preacher of the Word, Bishop David Oyedepo is being investigated by Britain over a permit to establish a multi-million naira school.
This, ENCOMIUM Weekly learnt, was on account of the allegations leveled against the world richest pastor, which include poor discipline and witchcraft.
On the heels of this, human rights campaigners and the National Secular Society urged the UK authority to turn down a request by Oyedepo’s Winners Chapel International to open an independent school in Kent.
According to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the church which is presently under investigation by the charity commission, has perfected plans to open the school at its Dartford site. But that has suffered serious setback.
Meanwhile, a couple of years back, Oyedepo was shown on Youtube slapping a woman he accused of being a witch. The case was charged to court which also brought the name of the famous preacher in the mud.
Oyedepo’s son, David Oyedepo Junior is the pastor in charge of Winners Chapel International’s European headquarters in Dartford, where the church is said to be planning to establish Kingdom Heritage Model School for children between four and seven.
But now, the reverse is the case as human rights groups, including the National Secular Society (NSS) have raised concern and claims that the church links child disobedience to witchcraft allegedly citing the David Oyedepo Ministries’ website, which states, “Disobedience is as terrible as witchcraft!”
Stephen Evans, from the NSS, allegedly told BBC that the Metropolitan Police had investigated 27 cases of child abuse related to witchcraft in 2014 alone.
He was quoted to have said, “There is a need to be vigilant and there is a need to tackle this.
“You don’t do this by allowing organizations that believe in witchcraft and are associated with witch-hunting to open in the UK.”
However, the Charity Commission was said to have confirmed concerns raised about Winners Chapel International, including conflict of interest and the charity’s financial management.
In 2011, Oyedepo’s fortunes was estimated at $150m (£94m). Human rights activist and Nigerian Humanist Movement founder, Leo Igwe allegedly said the church obtained money from its members using what it called a prosperity-in-gospel narrative.
He was reported to have said, “They make this money using this narrative and use it to establish business, schools and universities.”
Justifying the use of the money allegedly collected from the worshippers, the Evangelical Alliance which represents the UK’s evangelical Christians, reportedly said both school and church should be supported.
The group’s spokesman, Yemi Adedeji was quoted as saying, “The context of what happens in Nigeria and what happens in the UK is very different.
“Most parents want their children to go to a faith-based school because of moral issues and I think we must salute that.”
