David Oyedepo and Road Repairs

By: Deji Yesufu

On October 24, 2019, David Oyedepo, presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Churches Worldwide, announced to the public that his church will be committing $2 Million to repair the stretch of government road that runs by Canaanland where the church and her university are situated in Idi-Iroko, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. The announcement immediately made the front pages of newspapers and online news portals. It became a cause for great rejoicing among Nigerians as the thought of a wealthy Nigerian, wielding his vast resources, to save Nigerians from the failures of her government, began to cross people’s minds. If no one rejoiced, people living in the immediate vicinity certainly would have had cause to give God thanks.

A few days after this announcement, another headline surfaced around this story. The news alleged that David Oyedepo and his church were embarking on this public service to help ease traffic for the myriad of church faithfuls that shall be trooping to SHILOH, their annual gathering, in December. Innocently, and without any hidden motive, I shared this position on a social media timeline. I had hoped that those who rejoiced over the earlier announcement will see a possible motive for which it was made. I was wrong. Rather than even examine the veracity of the claim, folks held the position that Oyedepo was doing this nation great good in fixing the roads and whatever motives may have engendered his actions are not important. My protest, stating otherwise, fell on deaf ears. Thus I have decided to bring my protest to my weekly column.

First. While I maintain that David Oyedepo’s motive for wanting to fix the roads are not altogether altruistic, I wish to add by showing that it is not the duty of pastors and churches to fix roads. While companies may embark on Community Service Responsibilities (CSR); churches are not companies. Ideally, if David Oyedepo is doing Christian ministry in the manner that he ought to do it, he would not have the kind monies he has such that he can rival multinationals in CSRs. David Oyedepo has succeeded in lying to a generation of Nigerian professing Christian community. He invaded Lagos with his kind of gospel in the 1990s, from his roots in Kaduna. He sold faith to people and in return collected large sums of money from them. Today he is about the richest pastor in the world in a country that remains about the poorest in the world. If Oyedepo preaches the gospel in truth, he would not have the kind of money he is throwing around.

Second. When did Oyedepo become government and thus assumed the responsibilities of one? If Oyedepo and the other pastors, who spend their time building businesses and houses, remit taxes to government, will there not be monies available to fix the very road he is today pontificating to wish to build? In September 2013, officials of the Ogun State government came to Canaanland, Oyedepo’s fiefdom, to collect taxes he owed the State government. Rather than remit those taxes, these men were beaten up by Oyedepo’s tugs – masquerading as Christians. The Encomium reported the incident in an online medium thus:

“Pandemonium broke out in Bishop Oyedepo’s Canaanland, Ota, Ogun State on Thursday, September 5, 2013, when some church workers beat and detained five officials of the State Internal Revenue Service over N2 million tax owed the government by Kingdom Heritage Nursery School, between 2004 and 2010. We learnt that trouble began when some officials of IRS stormed the premises of Winners Chapel to collect the accumulated tax owed by the ministry’s school. According to chairman of IRS, Babajide Odubanjo, ‘authorities of the school had been served the notice of the tax duty but they had been ignoring it. Sadly, the officials of the state ITS whose mission it was to enlighten the school on the compliance programme of the Revenue Service were violently assaulted and later unlawfully detained in the premises for hours. As a result of the incident, an officer of the State IRS is currently hospitalized in Ilaro while others with minor injuries have been treated and discharged. Also, a number of assets belonging to the commission were damaged beyond repair.’

“Barely 24 hours after the ugly incident, the church was also accused of beating up two staffers of Ogun State Television, Peter Falomo and Lekan Egunjobi. They were assaulted and their camera damaged when they went to Canaanland to cover the service of building inspection notice by officials of the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning. Aside them, two officials of the ministry were also injured by the irate church members who prevented the team from entering the premises. It was reported that the ugly incident was witnessed by Bishop Oyedepo, who was equally visibly angry by the officials attempt to carry out their statutory duties on his church premises. The injured journalists and other officials were treated at the General Hospital, Ota and subsequently discharged.”

A church that couldn’t pay taxes of N2 million owed by its Nursery School, is now pontificating about building government road for $2 million. Oyedepo will do well to tell us if his tax remittances are now complete – considering the massive business concerns he runs at Canaanland. Obviously if all Nigerian pastors with schools, hotels, houses and other businesses, pay their taxes, government will have resources to fix our roads.

Third and lastly: those who claim that it doesn’t matter what motive Oyedepo has; that it is to the benefit of all that the road be fixed, miss a crucial point. They forget quickly that God, whom Oyedepo claims to serve, weighs the heart and not the mere actions of men. And I cannot help but to see Oyedepo from this light too.

My grouse with David Oyedepo has nothing to do with building roads. Throughout the history of humanity, saints and sinners have been doing general good to society. My grouse with Oyedepo is the messages he is preaching. Oyedepo is deceiving myriads of professing Christians to an eternity without Christ, without God. He is offering men heaven on earth and hell beneath. Oyedepo preaches a false gospel of health and wealth, and a vast number of Christians today around the world look up to him as a great man of God. David Oyedepo is not a Christian talk less a man of God. He is deceiving folks and has succeeded in taking his deception to Nigerian roads. If he does construct that road, he will be beatifying his doctrines and practices a lot further. Those who had succeeded in seeing him as he is in the past will now begin to look on him as a true Pastor. He is not.

If David Oyedepo and all other pastors give the requires taxes they ought to give to government, the Nigerian state will have resources to fix her roads. Until then, deceivers will continue to portray themselves as angels of light when in actual fact they are wolves in sheep clothing.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the books Victor Banjo and Half a Millennium. He can be reached on newdejix@gmail.com

© Deji Yesufu

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/david-oyedepo-and-road-repairs/

VBCampaign:
... It was reported that the ugly incident was witnessed by Bishop Oyedepo, who was equally visibly angry by the officials attempt to carry out their statutory duties on his church premises. The injured journalists and other officials were treated at the General Hospital, Ota and subsequently discharged.” ...

Ruffle and/or rub Bishop Oyedepo the wrong way, with a word like winch etcetera, out appears a potentially slapping your girl and equally visibly angry violent person

Not surprised.