Apostle Kingsley Abiekunogho, the founder of God is Able Mega Fire Ministry, Opolo, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, has been arraigned for alleged fake prophecy and obtaining by trick.
The cleric was arraigned at Magistrate’s Court 3, Yenagoa, presided over by Magistrate Eke Spiff.
Abiekunogho was alleged to have fraudulently obtained a Toyota sport utility vehicle and N20,000 from a church member, Seiyefa Sayou, in exchange for spiritual breakthroughs.
The cleric allegedly collected the car and the money from Sayou, promising that he would receive the items in two folds after a month.
The complainant was said to have been invited to the church by a friend on September 9, 2017 during a crusade of the church.
It was learnt that on getting to the church, a guest minister, identified as Apostle Chris, from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, convinced Sayou to give the sum of N20,000 and his SUV in exchange for spiritual breakthroughs.
Sayou was said to have parted with the vehicle and the money after Apostle Chris had narrated frightening stories of how people that didn’t give died mysteriously and how he (Sayou) would die if he failed to give the items.
Abiekunogho allegedly promised Sayou, through the guest minister, that in a month’s time, he (Sayou) would receive whatever he had donated to the church in double folds.
Narrating how the SUV was taken from him, Saiyou said Chris called him from the crowd and asked how much he had in his bank account.
He said he replied N15,000.
“The pastor said, ‘How can an honourable like you have only N15,000?’ Eventually, I was compelled to pledge N20,000. We were asked to redeem our pledges the following day.
“The following day, I went to my bank and withdrew the N15,000 in my account. I borrowed N5,000 to make up the N20,000 I vowed.
“They (Abiekunogho and Chris) also asked how many cars I had and I said one. They said I should sow it as a seed and that I would get double of what I had given. Thereafter, the guest pastor gave me honey to drink and mandated me to do change of ownership of the vehicle immediately. They brought a form to me that said I voluntarily gave out my car and I signed without knowing what I was doing.
“Thereafter, I went to a shop, bought a nylon bag and packed all my belongings and went home. When I got home, my wife asked me for the car and I told her that I had sown it as a seed. She said since it was for God, there was no problem,” he added.
Sayou said when he woke up the next day, he started looking for the car.
He said it was then that his wife reminded him that he had sown it as a seed in the church, adding that he could not recollect when he did so.
Sayou added, “After several months, things got worse for me. So, I asked the pastor to return my vehicle because many months had passed without any form of financial increase.
“When the pastor refused to return the SUV to me, I reported to the police. The pastor was invited. When the pastor got to the police station, he said he had sold the car which I bought N3.9m for N1.5m.
“When the person who bought the car was contacted, he asked for N3m to release the car. But the police refused and ordered him to bring it. He later brought the car to the station after the pastor was detained.”
