Former MFM Church Usher Narrates How Founder Olukoya Allegedly Asked Police To Shoot Him For Refusing To Lie


May 31, 2024
NEWS

A former usher with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries International (MFM), Caleb Oloruntele has narrated how the church founder, Daniel Olukoya allegedly ordered the police to shoot him.

Oloruntele revealed this in an interview with Yoruba Gidi TV.

According to him, Olukoya wanted him dead because he refused to give false testimony against a pastor he identified as Femi Agboola.

The former usher said he was prosecuted in 2008 without any concrete evidence to prove the allegation made against him.

He said, “I joined the church to solve my life issues. But I didn’t know the church would complicate my life. Those who did not understand what really happened would be saying different things. Assuming I have died inside the prison, people would think Olukoya’s allegation of murder against me is true.

“I fear the police. The police know the criminals but because of corruption they always hide the truth. We went to Olukoya to beg him. We prostrated before him. He pushed us away. And he told the police that they did not do well. He asked the police why they did not shoot us.

“My parents were Muslims. I converted to Christianity.

“All my documents that they burnt at the church headquarters, if I had known, I would have carried them to my house.

“When the police came to the church, they said the information they got in their office was not what they met. The police asked me, ‘Why did your boss give you an instruction and you refused to carry it out?’

“The police said if God delivered me out of the problem, next time my boss gave me an instruction, I would carry it out.

“I did not understand what they were saying then. It means Olukoya wanted me to lie against Femi Agboola but I refused to do so because the man did not do anything to me. So why would I lie against him?

“The torture I received while in detention dislocated my hand and one of my ears is bad. I have been left with ‘a half-body’ (with a physical disability) because of Olukoya. When we were being taken to prison in the car, the police said, ‘Your pastor is a wicked person.’ He said we should take you to the site (prison) to kill you.’

“As we got to the gate of the site, I saw a lot of security operatives telling us 'rest in peace'. There was no evidence against me. I did not steal, I did not do anything, I have never engaged in any crime."

He continued: “If you check the newspapers, you would see the lies there (about our alleged armed robbery). In those reports, they did not allow us to state our side of the story. Only the church management spoke."

“There was no time that someone did not die inside that prison and that is why it is called ‘mortuary prison’. I was prosecuted on January 25, 2008.”

However, efforts made by SaharaReporters to speak with the spokesman for the MFM, Mr Collins Edomaruse failed.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported how Pastor Femi Jimoh also accused the church of being behind his incarceration for nine years over alleged armed robbery.

He said he was beaten and handcuffed while a Divisional Police Officer shot him in the leg.

According to him, his mother and sister went to beg Olukoya on his behalf but he told them that he would be released only if he pleaded guilty in court.

He said; "If it is by telling lies, they should look for someone that can tell lies because MFM believes that if anybody speaks on radio and television, he will be disregarded. My words are not to be disregarded. Let them hear me very well. If they want to call the police or a lawyer, I'm ready. My words cannot be disregarded because I know them to be unforgiven and I can swear to that."

#RevolutionNow convener Omoyele Sowore on Thursday called on the Nigeria Police Force to immediately arrest and prosecute Olukoya for allegedly influencing the incarceration of Femi Jimoh for nine years without trial.

The former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, in a series of posts on his social media handle, said the alleged atrocities committed by the MFM church leadership, the collusion between the church leadership and the police and others working with them was enough reason to set up a national police abuse commission of inquiry, such that all the people mentioned in the video would be brought to justice.

SaharaReporters

shortgun:
I stopped believing what people say since the day a girl told me her father was in coma and she had to go see him in the hospital, only for me to later find out she went to see another guy who was not even in a hospital

thesicilian:

How's this even related to the matter at hand

OLAADEGBU:


According to him, Olukoya wanted him dead because he refused to give false testimony against a pastor he identified as Femi Agboola.

TheGiftedOne:
Crooks on sheep covering... All the so-called men of god are in reality fraudsters.

Using church accounts as Conduit for looting, swindle for Yahoo boys and even using mind games to fleece people of their hard earned money.

Babylon the great will soon meet it's waterloo.

OLAADEGBU:


FEMI JIMOH'S STORY SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH (PART 1)
Funkẹ́ Aṣekún


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0SrMefqLmM

shortgun:
I stopped believing what people say since the day a girl told me her father was in coma and she had to go see him in the hospital, only for me to later find out she went to see another guy who was not even in a hospital

OLAADEGBU:


According to him, Olukoya wanted him dead because he refused to give false testimony against a pastor he identified as Femi Agboola.

It's Not MFM’s Fault Ex-Ministers Spent 9 Years In Jail; They Chose To Stay In Prison When No One Bailed Them Out –Church Lawyer


June 10, 2024
NEWS

However, a July 2016 ruling of a Lagos State High Court at Igbosere acquitted and discharged Jimoh and two others charged with conspiracy to rob the church.

The Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM) has stated that its ex-members who were locked up for nine years chose to remain in prison because nobody went to secure their release after they were granted bail.

Pastor Femi Jimoh, who identified himself as a former MFM pastor, had accused the church of being behind his incarceration for nine years without trial, over alleged armed robbery.

Jimoh, who disclosed this in an interview with Yoruba Gidi TV, alleged that his trial started when he met the chief security officer of Pastor Daniel Olukoya at a native doctor's house.

He said he was beaten and handcuffed while a Divisional Police Officer shot him in the leg.

According to him, his mother and sister went to beg Olukoya on his behalf but he told them that he would be released only if he pleaded guilty in court.

Also, a former usher with the church, Caleb Oloruntele, alleged that the church founder, Olukoya ordered the police to shoot him.

Oloruntele also revealed this in an interview with Yoruba Gidi TV.

According to him, Olukoya wanted him dead because he refused to give false testimony against a pastor he identified as Femi Agboola.

The former usher said he was prosecuted in 2008 without any concrete evidence to prove the allegation made against him.

The Chief Legal Adviser of the church, Davidson Adejuwon, during a press conference in Lagos on Friday, noted that their claims of being in jail for nine years for an offence they did not commit was false, mischievous and misleading.

He accused Pastor Femi of being a serial offender in the ministry.

He narrated two incidents in Warri and Ibadan that he claimed showed Pastor Femi's character while he was with MFM.

He said, "Their claims of being locked up in jail for nine years for an offence they did not commit was false, mischievous and misleading. Pastor Femi has been a serial offender in the ministry.

"If not forgiveness and magnanimity, what other reason or factor that will make an organization to keep giving its offending staff another chance after every offence committed?"

"It's actually absurd to imagine that the church as big as MFM will go so low to frame up two of his ministers, just because of a claim which is even false."

"They were never locked up for nine years, they were granted bail but nobody went to secure their bail. They chose to remain in the custody."

"As such, a case of planned armed attack on credible intelligence against the church which could have led to the death of any member cannot be treated and handled internally by the church."

“We must report such to the law enforcement agency saddled with the responsibilities to investigate and deal with such issues. And that was exactly what we did as a responsible church.”

Michael Gbadamosi, the chief security officer of Pastor Olukoya whom Pastor Femi accused of meeting at a native doctor's house in Ogbomoso, was present at the briefing.

He described the claim as untrue.

"I know that Ogbomoso is in Nigeria, but I Michael Olawale Gbadamosi, have never been to Ogbomosho before," he said.

However, a July 2016 ruling of a Lagos State High Court at Igbosere acquitted and discharged Jimoh and two others charged with conspiracy to rob the church.

The other defendants in the case were Henry Aiyewero and Caleb Oloruntele.

Justice O. A. Williams in her ruling said, "I therefore find that the Inference that there is an agreement between the defendants to commit the crime of robbing MFM church cannot be made."

"The prosecution not having proved its case, there is no burden on the defendants to prove their defence. I find and hold that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The defendants are therefore acquitted and discharged."

Beyond that, one of the exhibits presented in court by the prosecution was a video recording of when the suspects met in a bar to allegedly conspire to rob MFM.

However, according to the testimony of the manager of the hotel in a court document obtained by SaharaReporters, the prosecution witnesses 'stage-managed' the setting.

He said he permitted a friend of one of the prosecution witnesses to use the hotel's bar for a movie.

The hotel manager said he was shocked to later find out that some of the 'actors' had been put in jail.

The court document read, "Paul Effiong the manager of Jethro Hotel testified as DW5 (Defence Witness 5). He stated that PW1 (Prosecution Witness 1- Adebayo Fatai, who testified as a security guard at Savannah Bar in Onike) and PW3 (one Akeem Asalu) are his customers. He deposed that he was informed by one Orji, PW3's friend that movie would be shot at the hotel's bar and happily gave his consent.

"He narrated how about 11 people including PW1, PW3, Orji and the defendants came for the video shoot and how it was set. He was shocked to see the defendants on television and to hear that they were robbers about a month later."

"He stated that he was suspended at work for about a month for permitting the shoot and eventually sacked. When he met up with PW1, PW3 and Orji after he got a new job and brought up the issue of the movie, Orji told him there was no movie, that what it was an arranged work, a business deal."

"When he probed him further, PW1 gave him a phone number, which he called and he spoke to a lawyer who told him the three people involved were in prison."

"Under cross-examination, he stated that he worked in Jethro Hotel in Iwaya between July 2007 and 19/04/08 and that the video was shot in the bar of the hotel. He added that he was sacked because he did not inform the management or get approval before he allowed the film to be shot at the hotel."

SaharaReporters