''Winners Chapel Violence" continues as Oyedepo watches beating of OGTV staff by church members

For the second time, some members of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, better known as Winners Chapel have attacked another set of officials of Ogun State Government.
A reporter and cameraman of the state television station, OGTV, were the latest victims.
The State Commisioner for Information and Strategy,Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu,identified the assaulted officials as Mr Peter Falomo, a reporter with OGTV and his cameraman, Lekan Egunjobi.
The duo,according to the statement by the commissioner, were severely beaten and their camera was damaged when they went to the Ota premises of the church to cover the service of building inspection notices by officials of the Ministry Of Urban and Physical Planning.
The video camera of the TV crew was forcibly seized and damaged in the process. The camera was only released after the recording had been wiped off.
“Apart from the TV crew, two officials of the Ministry were also injured by the irate church members who prevented the team from entering the premises.
“The assault was witnessed by the Head Pastor of the Church, Bishop David Oyedepo who equally was visibly angry by the decision of the officials to attempt to carry out their statutory duties in his church premises.
“At a point, the Bishop was saying unprintable things while querying the audacity of the state officials to attempt to regulate building of structures for commercial purposes in his church premises.
” The officials of the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning who were accompanied by policemen had, following the previous day similar assault of their counterparts in the OGIRS, earlier made a report of their planned visit to the Winners Chapel premises at the Divisional Police Station, Onipanu, Ota”,the statement read in parts.
Those wounded were taken to the General hospital in Ota where they were treated and subsequently discharged.
It was gathered that the matter has also been reported to the police.
Commenting on the development, the General Manager in the Ogun State Urban and Physical Planning Board, Mr Stephen Adewolu, who was part of the team that was molested in Ota, expressed shock at the lawlessness displayed by the Winners Chapel members and their leaders.
According to him,”No organisation can carry on as if it is above the law. We have information that the people in that church are just building structures indiscriminately without building approval, without necessary environmental impact assessment reports and they are violating planning laws and regulations.
” We only went there to serve statutory notices on the on-going building development and they are behaving as if the premises of the church is not covered by the laws of the state in which it is located”, he said.
The State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice,Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu confirmed to our correspondent that her Ministry is studying the the facts on the two incidents with a view to take appropriate legal measures.
Also, officials of the Winners Chapel had shunned meetings of the Stakeholders Forum established by the state government for representatives of organisations located in the state to deliberate with the government on issues of common interest, particularly compliance with extant laws on physical planning and taxation.
On Thursday afternoon, security personnel of the Kingdom Heritage Nursery and Primary School, a commercial venture located within the complex of Winners Chapel, had violently assaulted tax officials and damaged assets of the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS).
Bishop Oyedepo's Aides Assault Ogun Tax Officials
A serious legal crisis is brewing between Bishop David Oyedepo, controversial General Overseer of the Living Faith Church, better known as Winners Chapel, and the Ogun State Government, following a physical assault by the Bishop's boys on some government officials who visited a school owned by the clergyman over tax issues.

The Ogun State Government is currently fuming and has threatened to take appropriate actions against the church owner whose, school, the Kingdom Heritage Nursery School, has allegedly evaded tax for about six years now.
According to the government, its officials visited the school located within the church headquarters in Ota, Ogun State, to effect the payment of the tax but staff of the school beat up the officials and locked them up for three hours. They were reportedly rescued by the Divisional Police Officer of the Onipanu Police Station in Ota.

A video footage presented to journalists by the Ogun State Government as evidence showed the officials being assaulted and detained within the school by the school officials.
Speaking about the incident, Chairman of the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service, Jide Odubanjo said his officials were at the school as part of their statutory functions, such as accessing and inspecting financial records of the school as they do with other businesses in the state. He said the tax officials had written several times to the church but the refusal of the church to act favourably left the officials with no choice but to visit the school physically only for them to be manhandled and locked up.
He said an officer of the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service is currently hospitalised in Ilaro while others who sustained minor injuries have been treated and discharged. He also alleged that a number of assets belonging to the state government were damaged beyond repair by the school staff.
Odubanjo, who addressed journalists in company with some commissioners in the State, said the government had lodged a complaint at the police station.
He added that the government would take appropriate steps to ensure that justice is done and that its agents are not handled unlawfully in the course of their official responsibilities.

“We condemn in the strongest terms any act of violence perpetrated against officers in the discharge of their legitimate duties,” he said.
“It is shocking and disheartening to see uniformed officers of OGIRS being violently assaulted. We view it as the height of irresponsibility and lawlessness for any person or group of persons to assault government officials who are performing their lawful duties.”
The church is yet to react to the allegation.

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