Religion
Church member petitions EFCC over botched N65.5m land deal with Celestial prophet, Marcus Tibetan
David Timilehin, a realtor, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a controversial land deal involving Marcus Tibetan, a prophet of the Celestial Church of Christ, and Omolara Akintonde, a former first lady of Ogun state.
We had reported how Timilehin accused Tibetan of collecting N65.5 million from him to procure land near the recently inaugurated Dangote refinery in Lagos state.
Timilehin said, in 2022, Tibetan informed him of the availability of two hectares of land (30 plots) supposedly in Ketu, Epe area of the state, belonging to Akintonde, the prophet’s church member. Timilehin said he paid the N65.5 million cost of the land to the prophet to be transferred to Akintonde.
But a year after, Timilehin has not been allocated the land; neither did he receive a receipt of payment nor any documentation of the land. Instead, he has been involved in a back-and-forth conversation with the prophet and Akintonde.
Timilehin said he also discovered the land is not anywhere close to the Dangote refinery, adding that the land belongs to the Lagos state government and is not meant for private use. He then requested a refund, saying he was no longer interested in the deal.
Despite evidence of bank transfers to Tibetan, the prophet, in an interview with TheCable, denied receiving money from Timilehin, while Akintonde insisted she has no business with Timilehin since he didn’t pay the money to her account.
Timilehin said the prophet and the first lady has not refunded his money.
LAWYER WRITES EFCC: PROPHET DUPED MY CLIENT, HIS ADOPTED SON
In a letter dated June 15 to the EFCC, Ayo Durojaye, Timilehin’s lawyer, said his client has been like an adopted son to the prophet, adding that his client also sees the cleric as a godfather and confidant, hence Timilehin trusted him.
Timilehin added that Tibetan and Akintonde have blocked his contact and there are indications they have travelled out of the country.
“I keep telling them that I am too young for what they are making me pass through. It’s like they want to kill me before my time. The regard I have for the prophet is no more. I took him as a spiritual father. But he has betrayed that trust,” Timilehin said.
“At one point, he sent me his account details showing how he transferred money to Akintonde. But I discovered that the account he sent money to is a company account belonging to one Mid-Oil Petrochemical Company which is allegedly partly owned by Akintonde.”
“But since I had no direct dealings with Akintonde, the onus is on him to collect the money back from the woman and pay me. What the woman is saying is that she did not collect money from me, which is true. I paid the money to the account of Prophet Tibetan
“I have suffered so much in the last few months since I began the battle to get my money back. I am not asking for any other thing apart from my money. Let him return my money. Nigerians who know Prophet Tibetan should prevail on him to return my N65.5 million.”
Religion
Mixed reactions trail ‘Jesus Christ is not God’ banner displayed at Lekki central mosque
Netizens across social media platforms have begun to condemn a banner about Jesus Christ displayed at the gate of the Lekki Central Mosque in Lagos State.
The inscription on the banner which went viral on Wednesday read, “Jesus Christ is not God. He is a Prophet and Messenger of God!”
However, reactions have trailed the message, with some arguing that the motive behind it was blasphemy.
Some others, however, maintained that the message has been affirmed by pastors many times.
A Nigerian actress, Wumi Tuase, took to her X and expressed displeasure saying, “I don’t like to get into religious conversations but I found it very weird that Lekki Central Mosque has this in front of their gate.”
A user who tweeted with the handle #Fisayo Ojabodu wrote, “You don’t see the banner is disrespectful to other people’s religion. And is propagating foolish agenda.”
One user who identified with the handle #Adesuwa noted that this action is nothing but blasphemy.
Another user who identified as #FS Yusuf tweeted, “Christianity is actually a religion of peace.
“In the last two decades, my family church has been set on fire by Muslim extremists for ridiculous reasons such as religious extremism and Buhari losing his 2011 election.
“This is the reality for hundreds of churches and also innocent individuals accused of blasphemy. If this write-up was done by a Christian organisation, we won’t be here typing. Until we learn to uphold tolerance, we can’t make progress as a pluralistic society.”
One Silva Bella on X said, “It’s not about Christianity is a religion of peace or not … Jesus is not God. I have read the Bible a lot of time and it obvious but I can’t still get why people call Jesus God. He’s the son which means God is the father.”
“Jesus is God, Jesus is your King and Jesus will pass judgment on all. For judgment will only be fair through him that has walked in your flesh and felt your pain,” GeradTheGreat opined.
“We are so peaceful, and we will remain peaceful, we don’t fight for our God, He fights for himself,” Joycccc wrote on Meta.
Another user on X, Expope said, “The late Deborah they set on fire has not done up to this before they all joined hands to terminate her life.”
On X, another user identified as #ChristTheLighhouse opined, “We as Christians accept criticism, backlash, rejection, and even insults. Our Lord and saviour whom we believe and serve received more up to the point of death! He prayed for unbelievers and his persecutors and killers.
“The gospel of repentance and conversation into Christianity and acceptance of Jesus as ones personal Lord and Saviour is never by force, war, coercion or propaganda…it’s by the gentle acts of the Holy Spirit of God.That is the game changer. It’s a personal experience. Ask Saul (later Paul) of Tarsus!”
On the contrary, one Muhammad Shaikhan said, “The beauty of this drama between Christians and Muslims is that everyone of us knows that God is one. God is always a God. We can’t substitute God with anybody. The argument is all about the teaching of Jesus and that of Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon them. So I don’t vex.”
Abdul’fattah Muhdl’awwal said, “Jesus himself never said he is God.
“You and the likes are the ones calling him God. Hence the quote in that banner is the fact and not blasphemous.”
One Olawale on Meta said, “The message on the banner is true.”
Religion
Tobi Adegboyega debunks anti-gay allegations, says persecution politically motivated
Tobi Adegboyega, the founder of the SPAC Nation church in the United Kingdom (UK), says his current travails are politically motivated.
The Nigerian pastor, who is at the centre of a UK deportation saga, said the persecution started after a member of parliament (MP) from his district alleged that he was advocating against the gay community.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Adegboyega said the MP reported the church’s activities to the police.
He said the police could not investigate the allegations against him and the church because they were “all nonsensical”.
“You can’t claim that our proof is inflated without telling us why. The UK Metropolitan Police gathered charities in the UK and asked them to go to SPAC Nation. I wrote solutions for the home office,” he said.
“Truths must be backed with facts. For 10 years, we have been persecuted without one single move.
“Allegations without indictment, so why shouldn’t we suspect biases?
“We have a situation where people believed I was supporting certain political parties because one person believed that my agenda was to go against the gay community, and from that day, we have been to reconciliation meetings.
“The person wrote that my evangelical zeal was to make sure that the gay community in that area does not survive.
“He took dossiers of evidence against the church to the sacred ground of the parliament and submitted it to the internal affairs minister, who submitted it to the police, and the police came back to say that they couldn’t even investigate one thing because it was all nonsensical.
“The person is an MP, and the same person is sitting behind these things, making sure that he is not defeated.
“If there is any honour left in his system, what such men should do is apologise unless you’re saying the police authority of Great Britain is inept, which would be quite unfortunate.”
Adegboyega dismissed the deportation case against him, stressing that the focus should be on the contribution of his church to the safety and businesses of people in the UK.
“The country cannot deny it. There is no prime minister who can deny the result of the work we have done. When the metropolitan police came to the church, that was about three years ago; they sat down, and they came to learn,” he said.
“It is our result of how many lives have been saved, how many knives we have taken off the street, and how many businesses we created for this economy.
“We had a few hours of the tribunal, and in the tribunal, I was given a few hours to talk about the SPAC Nation, and we defended the honour of the SPAC Nation.”
Religion
Renowned Islamic scholar, Muyideen Bello, is dead
The Muslim community has been thrown into mourning following the passing of one of its most revered figures, Alhaji Muyideen Bello.
Born in 1940 in Ibadan, Alhaji Bello was widely respected for his profound teachings and unwavering dedication to Islamic scholarship.
The announcement of his demise was made by another prominent Islamic scholar, Alfa Aribidesi of At-Tawdeeh Islamic Da’awah on Friday morning.
Corroborating the news of the demise, popular cleric and follower of the late Bello, who is also an Islamic singer, Alhaji Basit Olarenwaju popularly known as Aponle Anabi also shared the image of the 84 year old scholar with tearful emojis on his official Facebook page on Friday.
While details surrounding his death remain unclear, his passing marks the end of an era for a man who spent decades shaping the lives of countless individuals with his wisdom, guidance, and spiritual leadership.
Multiple reports from local media in Oyo State have also reported the demise of the revered cleric.
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