₦airaland Forum

Popular Lagos Pastor Kidnapped
Published on March 29, 2012 by · 2 Comments
The police have deepened their search for a Lagos pastor who was abducted some few days ago while returning from a trip to Anambra State, southeast Nigeria.

Prophet Chris Okafor, head of the Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministries, in Ojodu, Lagos was held by kidnappers around Awka, after he rounded off a five-day crusade in the Anambra State capital.

The pastor’s security escort, who tried to fend off the criminals was reportedly shot and killed in a crossfire. The SUV in which they were riding was riddled with bullets but the pastor was unhurt.

The kidnappers were said to have later demanded a N50 million ransom payment before the pastor could be freed, according to a church member who confided in P.M. News.

“This is the second week since our pastor was taken away and everyone is now afraid for his life. We just hope that God will touch their (kidnappers’) heart to know that they are holding an innocent person,” the member, an okada (commercial motorcycle) rider volunteered to P.M. News last night.

After entreaties to Pastor Okafor’s abductors to release him failed, the church’s leaders were said to have raised and offered the kidnappers a part of the ransom demand.

They reportedly collected the undisclosed sum but insisted on the complete sum before the prophet could be released.

This morning when P.M.News visited the church, no official of the church would confirm the pastor’s whereabouts. One of the two guards met at the gate merely said the pastor travelled and couldn’t say when he would return.

But the Anambra State Police spokesman, Emeka Chukwuemeka confirmed the incident. He said the command was combing every part of the state to seek out the pastor and arrest his abductors.

Chukwuemeka also said the Anambra State Police Command was liaising with the police in neighbouring states, in case the kidnappers might have crossed over there.

This morning, during a service at the church premises on Oshofisan Street, in the Ojodu area, a handful of members interceded for the safe return of their spiritual leader.

The pastor is a regular face on a Christian TV programme, Hour of Liberation, aired in Lagos, where he preaches and intercedes for listeners.

His church, better known as Liberation City, which marked its eighth anniversary last December, is popular with miracle-seeking Lagosians, some of them well-to-do individuals.

Its Sunday service and weekly deliverance service is usually packed with a horde of worshippers.

—Tokunbo Olajide
Source http://africagist.com/2012/03/29/popular-lagos-pastor-kidnapped/

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, left on Wednesday for the Arab League summit in Baghdad, official radio reported.

“Bashir left Khartoum for Baghdad, heading the country’s delegation in the Arab League summit,” state-run Radio Omdurman said.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s office had announced on Sunday that Bashir would attend the meeting, but until Wednesday’s radio report there had been no official comment about the trip within Sudan.

Iraq is not a signatory to the ICC’s founding Rome Statute, according to a copy of the treaty posted on the UN’s website.

The Iraqi foreign ministry has said on its website that “the protection of President al-Bashir is guaranteed one hundred percent,” adding that the same applied to all summit participants.

Thursday’s meeting of leaders from the 22-member Arab League is the first in the Iraqi capital since now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in 2009 for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, the country’s western region. A later warrant added genocide to the charges.

Bashir, who has since made several visits abroad, especially to other African states, leaves as diplomats from Sudan and South Sudan work to avert war after border clashes this week sparked international fears of a wider conflict.
Source http://africagist.com/2012/03/28/sudans-bashir-heads-to-arab-summit-despite-icc-warrant/

A worker in a church, Dominion World International Church, Igando in Alimosho area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, Jegede Emofe, has allegedly duped his General Overseer, Pastor Young Oyakhilome (not the G.O. of Christ Embassy Church, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome).
Source PM NEWS NIGERIA
P.M.NEWS learnt that Pastor Young Oyakhilome paid N150,000 to Jegede to clear a Mercedes Benz car for him because he is a church worker and a trusted member of his Dominion World International Church, Igando.

He was expected to clear the car in Cotonou, Benin Republic in a few days.

However, having collected the N150,000 Jegede instead of fulfilling his own part of the contractual agreement, allegedly bolted with the money.

He also stopped going to Oyakhilome’s church after the transaction whic took place in 2009.

Worried by Jegede’s absence, his pastor contacted the police and reported a case of obtaining money under false pretence.

The police at Igando Division trailed Jegede and succeeded in arresting him last week.

He was arraigned before a Lagos Magistrate’s Court at Ejigbo on a two-count charge of obtaining money under false pretence and stealing, contrary to Sections 312 and 385 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

When the charge was read to Jegede, he pleaded not guilty.

The presiding magistrate, Mrs. M. B. Folami admitted him to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.

The matter was adjourned till 18 April 2012 for mention.

—Cyriacus Izuekwe
Source http://africagist.com/2012/03/28/church-worker-dupes-pastor-oyakhilome/

President Robert Mugabe “will never step down”, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister told The Independent, creating an image of a lonely man with few interests outside politics, and a determination to cling to power to the bitter end.

Tendai Biti of the Movement for Democratic Change, who entered the government in 2009 as part of a power-sharing deal with Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, said he felt “pity” for the 88-year-old President, who is criticised for human rights abuses and the slow pace of democratic reform.

“After 32 years in power, he knows nothing else,” Mr Biti said. “I know the joy of walking into a supermarket, watching the Black Rhinos [football club] or going to church without anyone raising a furore. He does not know there is a beautiful life outside politics. He would never want to retire. I think he will never step down.”

Mr Biti, a 45-year-old lawyer who is deputy to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the MDC, also launched a spirited defence of his party’s record in government. He rejected suggestions that his party had lost credibility by cosying up to Zanu-PF, which entered the fragile coalition with the MDC after disputed, violence-plagued elections in 2008. But the power sharing has proved bitter and fractious.

“We have not stolen money. Zanu-PF has tried to trap us. There are many temptations in politics. They have thrown everything at us except incest,” Mr Biti said in an interview in Harare.

“The people of Zimbabwe know that we are the party that has given them time-out [economically]. The past 39 months have shown that we are nobody’s puppets and we are ready to govern on the basis of a simple decision-making matrix: what is best for our people and the country.”

International donors refuse to pay aid directly to the Zimbabwean treasury. As a result, Mr Biti presides over a peppercorn budget of US$4bn (£2.5bn), 70 per cent of which he spends on civil servants’ salaries.

He said the country’s new diamond field, Marange, had brought in only $19m to the treasury since the beginning of the year, whereas he had expected $77m.

Human rights groups have expressed concern that Mr Mugabe’s party plans to use the proceeds from diamond mines to fund violence and intimidation in upcoming elections – accusations denied by Zanu-PF.

Mr Biti said the country urgently needed to put in place structures – such as a state diamond exploration company – to ensure that “those diamonds sweat for us and not for thieves and middlemen”.

Under the deal that followed the disputed elections in 2008, Zimbabwe is expected to move towards fair elections. But the process of writing a new constitution has become mired in infighting. President Mugabe has suggested he will call elections with or without a new constitution.

This month, Mr Biti said elections probably could not be held this year because the state coffers were too low. Mr Mugabe had reportedly insisted “money has to be found”. Mr Mugabe is currently slated to be the sole presidential candidate in the elections.

Mr Biti repeated the MDC’s call for international sanctions to be lifted, and criticised the Obama administration. He suggested the US should apply the same “constructive engagement” policies – sweeteners rather than sanctions – that were used by the Reagan administration in its dealings with apartheid South Africa. “When you have a difficult situation you must engage,” he said. “Some countries are refusing to engage. Their approach is primitive and amateurish.”
http://africagist.com/2012/03/24/mugabe-will-cling-to-power-until-his-last-breath-says-minister/

Video of the Coup d’Etat in Mali
http://africagist.com/video-coup-detat-in-mali/

The house where Michael Jackson died is up for sale … again … for a whopping $23.9 million.

The estate went on the market Monday and we’ve learned a “major celebrity” will look at it tomorrow.

We’re told the realtor – Mauricio Umansky, the CEO and co-founder of The Agency in Beverly Hills — will ONLY show the property to serious buyers who have pre-qualified … which means they have the dough to buy the property.

The 17,000 square foot house — which has been on and off the market since MJ died — is completely empty. It has 13 bathrooms, a pool, guest house and an elevator.
source and more at http://africagist.com/michael-jackson-estate-back-up-for-sale-23-9-million/

Though the Nigerian Senate made a legislation outlawing gay marriage and homosexuality, the law has not in any way reduced or hindered the practice of homosexuality. Street Journal’s investigations revealed that it will be quite difficult to prosecute gays in Nigeria because of the calibre of people involved. The practice of homosexuality has taken root in the Nigerian system and it cuts across all cadres and sectors as there are homosexuals even in the topmost echelon.

The Senate defied pressures from, read more at
http://worldrevival.net/blog1/revealed-how-nigerias-prominent-businessmen-recruit-homosexual-partners/

Pastor defiles girl in a church during all night service

http://worldrevival.net/blog1/2012/03/12/pastor-defiles-girl-in-a-church-during-all-night-service/

Hundreds healed of HIV/AIDS at TB Joshua church
http://worldrevival.net/blog1/2012/03/10/hundreds-healed-of-hivaids-at-tb-joshua-church/#respond