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  • CAN counsel lawmakers over Winners Chapel’s airstrip licence probe

    CAN counsel lawmakers over Winners Chapel’s airstrip licence probe

    The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Saturday urged lawmakers to avoid undermining the reputation of Living Faith Church popularly known as Winners Chapel over its recently approved airstrip license.

    Recall in October, the Minister for Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had pronounced the granting of the License to the Living Faith Church for the construction of an airstrip.

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    Keyamo said the airstrip would be managed by the Federal Government through the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, following concerns among members of the House of Representatives, who advocated for the revocation of airstrip licenses issued to certain individuals and private organisations, citing security reasons.

    In a statement signed by Archbishop Daniel Okoh, President of CAN, the association urged lawmakers to exercise caution and ensure that their investigation remains impartial.

    The airstrip license, approved after the church fulfilled all safety and legal requirements, has faced opposition from some members of the House of Representatives, citing national security concerns.

  • Mind your business, Oyedepo responds to critics over Abioye, Aremu’s retirement

    Mind your business, Oyedepo responds to critics over Abioye, Aremu’s retirement

    Founder and presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), Bishop David Oyedepo, has warned those criticising the church’s decision to retire some long-serving leaders to mind their business.

    Nigerians on social media have been criticising Oyedepo over the retirement of his two Vice Presidents, Bishops Thomas Aremu and David Abioye.

    Oyedepo in his response strongly defended the church’s policy on pastoral retirements.

    He explained that these retirements were in line with the church’s operational guidelines, known as “The Mandate,” which serves as its governing constitution. He urged critics to focus on their own affairs rather than questioning the internal decisions of the church.

    Speaking during Bishop Aremu’s farewell ceremony at Winners Chapel in Orita Bashorun on Tuesday, Oyedepo emphasised that the ministry functions in accordance with divine decree, revealing that the church’s Administrative Policy of 1998 was reviewed in 2001 and The Mandate of 2012 was amended in 2024.

    Read Also: Okonkwo, Oyedepo, Ashimolowo, others for Abundant Life Church 40th anniversary

    According to him: “My advice to commentators is to study to be quiet and mind your business. It is wisdom to learn what is working and find out what makes it work. Everything works here.”

    Quoting the Bible in Genesis 49:26, Bishop Oyedepo stated that no one has an inheritance in a teacher or pastor.

    He encouraged  Bishop Aremu  to maintain a mindset focused on growth, saying, “There’s no such thing as the best today or tomorrow; what matters is your pursuit of God.”

    In his response, Aremu, reassured the congregation about his future intentions. 

    He emphasized his commitment to Winners Chapel, saying, “I don’t have a church and I cannot have a church because God has not infused me with the capacity to do so. This is my church.”

  • Winners Chapel Bishops Abioye, Aremu set to retire

    Winners Chapel Bishops Abioye, Aremu set to retire

    Two Vice Presidents of Living Faith Church Worldwide popularly known as Winners Chapel Bishops David Abioye and Thomas Aremu will retire in October 2024, The Nation has gathered. 

    Aremu’s farewell service is scheduled for Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at the Living Faith Church in Basorun, Ibadan, Oyo State while Abioye will have his farewell ceremony on Friday, October 18 in Durumi, Abuja.

    Abioye first met founder of the church, Bishop David Oyedepo in 1979 and has been an integral personnel in the ministry since inception. 

    He was one of the original pastors, leading one of the first five branches established in 1987.

     His consecration in 1993 at the Garden of Faith in Barnawa, Kaduna, made him the youngest bishop in the church’s history at 32.

    Read Also: I’m still a member, steward of Winners Chapel, says Isaac Oyedepo

     Aremu left a career in accounting for full-time ministry, has also significantly contributing to the church’s growth. 

    Among the seven bishops consecrated in November 1999 at the Garden of Faith, he is the only one still serving. His dedicated service has garnered immense respect within the congregation.

    This event marks a significant moment for Living Faith Church, as it will be the first public celebration of the retirement of its pastors. 

    The revised Mandate has adjusted the retirement age from 60 to 58. 

    While Oyedepo retains the option for lifelong service, future church leaders will be limited to one or two seven-year terms, subject to Board of Trustees approval.

  • My pastor gave me alcohol, took me to hotels for sex, says teenager

    A 17-year old girl (names withheld) has narrated how the resident Pastor of the Amagba branch of the Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners Chapel, Pastor Kingsley Emeka Mokwunye, introduced her to alcohol and has sex with her severally.

    The teenager who spoke to reporters in Bénin City said Pastor Kingsley also slept with her in her father’s house.

    She was in tears as she narrated how the affair began in September last year shortly after she finished her secondary education.

    Stating the reasons for opening up on the love affair, she said she wants to leave the state for lack of concentration and that she wants Pastor Kingsley to be jailed.

    According to her, “He used to call me to advise me to stay away from boys, to live a good life and always respect my parents. I took it like he was my own father that I could trust and tell him anything I want to say.

    “That was how he started calling me, talking to me till it gets to a time he told me that he likes me. I took it as a normal thing. He started taking advantage of me. He tells me I do not know what he is doing for me. He started showing me things I have not seen before and took me to places I have never been to. That was how it started. He was the first person to show me how condom looked like. He taught me how to take alcohol.

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    “He told me not to tell my parents. He said they will understand what he is doing. He slept with me many times including our house when my parents are not at home.

    “Thinking about the thing has affected me educationally. I could not read. The whole thing was disturbing me. When I told his wife, she said I was lying and told me to come to their house and repeat it before her husband.

    “I want Pastor Kingsley to go to jail. I was always shocked anytime I am in church and see him preaching. I was afraid of telling my mother what was happening”.

    Her father who is also the Board Chairman of the church branch, Mr, Paul Obidah, said he was shocked that a Pastor he trusted as could destroy his only daughter.

    Paul said what pained him was that Pastor Kingsley had sex with his daughter in his house and even when his daughter was having her monthly flow.

    He said he want justice in the case and not swept under the carpet.

    His words, “I have been in the church for the past 27 years. I started the church in Kaduna State. Abioye led me to Christ. I have been in Kaduna all these years. It got to a time. I decided to relocate home.

    “We have been in Bénin serving God with our heart. Many pastors have come to the branch and go. I see the pastors as Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith. There was a day Pastor Kingsley came to my house, I could smell alcohol from his breath.

    “One day, his wife came and said she wants to see our daughter. I left her to discuss. I heard my daughter telling her she has something to tell her. The next day, the woman came and told me she has seized her husband’s phone because of the calls her husband was making to my daughter. I just said maybe it was a family friend matter.

    She said he went to pick my daughter at school, I said maybe he bought her ice cream.

    “I was sleeping when something struck me to ask my daughter what is happening. I called and asked her to open up to me. She began telling me how the Pastor used to make love to her in my own house. The different hotels he took her to. She said it was a burden to her. She said she does not know what the pastor gave to her.

    “This is a Pastor we trusted. We talked and do everything as a family. I didn’t know he has been doing this nonsense in my house. This is a girl that does not go out. She has been in

  • Winners’ Chapel declares seven-day prayer

    PRESIDENT of Living Faith Church International, also known as Winners’ Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo has declared a seven days of prayer and fasting from today to Sunday for what he described as “to rescue the terrorised soul of Nigeria”.

    Bishop Oyedepo, who made the announcement in a memo to the church’s mission stations, said the decision was hinged on the “uncontrollable and persistent killings of fellow citizens across the country”.

    He urged the congregation to partake in what he tagged as “Operation rescue” in order not to become a victim of such attacks.

    “All of us, who have eyes, can see Nigeria requires divine intervention urgently to avert the looming catastrophe hanging over this nation,” Bishop Oyedepo said.

    The cleric said “a flood of evil is determined to work against the nation by the powers of darkness,” but God forbids that Christians would be found sleeping.

    “Remember, in the days of Noah while people went about eating and drinking, getting married and giving in marriage, building houses, planting vineyards and so forth, they did not know when suddenly the flood came and flushed them all away.

    “May the days of Noah not repeat itself in our days,” he prayed.

    He said the scriptures had stated that anytime we were besieged by the forces of evil and mapped out for destruction, we were required to turn to the Lord in prayer and fasting to secure the desired victory.

    According to him, there is a place for congregational prayer and fasting in winning the war against our nation.

     

     

     

     

  • Varsity launches campaign against bush burning in Kwara

    Varsity launches campaign against bush burning in Kwara

    Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara,  on Monday inaugurated a sensitisation campaign against bush burning to celebrate the 60th birthday of Pastor  Faith Oyedepo, the wife of the institution’s Chancellor, Bishop David Oyedepo.

    Reports say that Faith, born on February 5, 1958, is the Vice-President, Education, Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel.

    The campaign was jointly organised by Landmark University Community Development Impact Initiative ( LMUCDII ), College of Agricultural Sciences and Omu-Aran Fire Service Outstation.

    The campaign, which involved distribution of hand bills to educate residents  on the danger  associated with bush burning, took the team to schools and  markets in Omu-Aran and other designated areas in Eleyin and Ipetu-Igbomina communities in the state.

    Read also: Four feared dead in Kwara community

    Speaking at the inauguration, Prof. Adeniyi Olayanju, the Vice-Chancellor of the university,  said that the campaign was in line with the institution’s corporate social responsibility.

    Olayanju, who decried the negative impact of bush burning on humans, soil and environment, said the menace had become a stumbling block to the socio-economic development of communities.

    He noted that the regulatory responsibility against incessant bush burning, especially at the grassroots,  had gone beyond what the government alone could  shoulder and advocated a  collective effort to achieve the desired results.

    Olayanju also said there was the need to check  the activities of some hunters whom he accused of deliberately setting bushes on fire.

    He listed the negative consequences of bush burning to include depletion of soil nutrient, environmental pollution, reduction in farm yield and income, rendering farm harvest unsafe for consumption  as well as destruction of the ecosystem.

    “Consequences of bush burning also include serious eye and respiratory infections as well as breathing problems  among others.

    ” It is on this basis that we are spearheading the anti-bush burning campaign in Nigeria to tackle the menace head on,” he said.

    Prof. Charity Aremu, Dean of the  College of Agricultural Sciences,  said the campaign was informed by the need to save both humans  and the  environment from bush burning-induced  attack.

    Aremu extolled the virtues of  the celebrator, commending  her  commitment to  spiritual devotion  and restoration of  the dignity of the black race.

    “These activities are geared toward honouring a woman of immense spiritual values who detests  human oppression in all its ramifications,’’ she said.

    NAN

  • Nigeria’s dependence on food importation dangerous – Oyedepo

    Nigeria’s dependence on food importation dangerous – Oyedepo

    President Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo on Thursday described the over dependence of Nigeria on imported agriculture produce as akin to ferreting diseases into the country.

    Dr Oyedepo added that a country that is prodigiously blessed like Nigeria has no basis for importing chickens into the country.

    The clergyman said this in Omu-Aran, Irepodun local government at this year’s convocation lecture of Landmark University, adding that to neglect agriculture is tantamount to mortgaging the future of Nigeria.

    His words: “We must shift from theory to things that address human issues. We need to come back to the real issues confronting use. We need to start creating solutions. A country that is enormously blessed
    as Nigeria has no basis to import chickens from any part of the world.

    We must invest in agricultural service to create the future of our dream and that is raw agricultural practices.

    “We can solve our problems if we are committed enough, but i don’t think we are that committed. Everybody must play his own part in solving the problem of food security in the world. Africa is the worst hit by the food security ravaging the world. Let us give the people in other parts of the world the impression that Nigerians are thinking.”

    Earlier, the Convocation lecturer, who doubles as the Managing Partner, Sahel Capital AgriBusiness Managers, Menzuo Nwunei said that Nigeria is not self-sufficient in food production, as it imports over
    45 percent of its food needs.

    Mr. Nwunei added that “Nigeria’s food imports have historically grown at a rate of 11 percent per year. The country’s major dependence on food imports is hurting local production, reducing local farmers’
    welfare and contributing to increasing unemployment.

    “Domestic inflation currently at about 18 percent is fuelled in part, by the demand for expensive food imports. The demand for food imports has placed download pressure on the value of the Naira and contributed to depleting foreign reserves.”

    He said that Nigeria’s import dependency is not economically sustainable and therefore should be unacceptable. According to him, agriculture is the most important sector in the Nigerian economy but remains dominated by smallholder farmers who operate at a subsistence level.

    Quoting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the guest speaker said that between 2007 and 2016, over $113 billion was the foreign investment in Nigeria.

    “Of and agribusiness related investments, the preponderance of the investment went into activities outside the major cities. About $427 million was geared towards agribusiness related investments,” he
    added.

    He, however, said: “Even with this increase in investment, over $5 billion is needed to provide required financing for farmers and agribusinesses.”

  • RCCG: Group urges Adeboye to rescind resignation as G.O.

    RCCG: Group urges Adeboye to rescind resignation as G.O.

    The Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) has called on Pastor Enoch Adeboye to rescind his resignation as the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

    The call came in a statement issued by the Executive Director of the Abuja-based human rights group, Mr Frank Tietie, on Tuesday.

    Tietie said CASER would seek a court order to compel Adeboye to reverse his decision should the “holy man of God’’ refuse to voluntarily do so.

    Adeboye stepped down as the General Overseer of the RCCG in Nigeria on Saturday on the basis of the controversial Corporate Governance Code of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN).

    The code, which stipulates a 20-year maximum tenure for heads of religious groups and civil rights organisations, among other provisions, was suspended by the Federal Government on Monday.

    But for the suspension, the regulation could have also seen the exit of other affected men of God from the headship of their churches.

    They include Bishop David Oyedepo (Living Faith Church Worldwide aka Winners’ Chapel); Pastor William Kumuyi (Deeper Christian Life Ministry) and Bishop Mike Okonkwo (The Redeemed Evangelical Mission).

    Tietie said: “CASER urges the highly revered Pastor Adeboye to change his mind and rescind his resignation as the General Overseer of RCCG.

    “Where, therefore, the holy man of God refuses to review his decision to resign, CASER shall seek an order of the court to compel him to remain as the general overseer.’’

    He said the group was acting, not only in the interest of members of the RCCG who respect Adeboye, but also in the interest the Church generally.

  • Nigeria will be vital in God’s agenda – Oyedepo

    Nigeria will be vital in God’s agenda – Oyedepo

    The Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, aka Winners’ Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo has said that Nigeria will be a vital force in driving God’s end time agenda.

    Bishop Oyedepo said this Wednesday at the opening service of the Church’s annual Shiloh prophetic gathering tagged “Shiloh 2015, From Glory to Glory.”

    While speaking on a sermon titled “Engaging the Wonders of Divine Visitation,” Bishop Oyedepo said, “The Ark of revival has landed on our shores. Nigeria will be vital force in driving God’s end-time agenda and this Commission has been positioned by divine election to play a leading role among others.

    Bishop Oyedepo added that every divine visitation was to fulfill divine agenda. “We are in the end-time; and authority in the end-time will be domicile in the church,” he explained.

    Shiloh, according to the Man of God, was ordained a prophetic gathering of the Winners’ Family for a change of level. As at the opening ceremony, 47 nations across the world were already participating among thousands of people.

    The event ends on Saturday, December 12, 2015.

  • Winners Chapel prepares for Shiloh 2015

    Winners Chapel prepares for Shiloh 2015

    The Living Faith Church Worldwide, popularly known as Winners Chapel, has begun preparations for this year’s Shiloh, the annual gathering of members of the church all over the world.

    This year’s event, with the theme, “From glory to glory”, holds from Tuesday December 8 to Saturday December 12, 2015.

    The event holds as usual at the world headquarters of the church, Canaanland, Ota, Ogun State, but will be broadcast live via satellite to viewing centres across the world.

    Already, the expansive headquarters is in Shiloh mood with various service groups in rash of meetings strategising for a grand Shiloh.

    On its part, one of the service groups, Crowd Control Unit (CCU), last Sunday pasted its first set of pre-Shiloh sensitisation banners at  strategic corners.

    The presiding Bishop, Dr. David Oyedepo, sensitising the congregation about Shiloh while ministering  last Sunday, said: “Shiloh is not a convention, a church anniversary or a conference; it is a divine appointment for our change of story, a place of conferment of dominion”.

    He said since 1999 when Shiloh started through a divine mandate, the church had been experiencing awesome levels of growth and advancement both for the commission and individual members.

    “We possess  our possessions at Shiloh,” Bishop Oyedepo said.