There was loud excitement among members and followers of the Deeper Life Christian Ministry after the General Superintendent of the church, Pastor William Kumuyi, revealed a former official of The Apostolic Faith, Pa Elijah Dosunmu, who led him to Christ.
Dosunmu is 83-year-old and lives in Lagos State, where he runs a school.
Kumuyi narrated his encounter with the octogenarian last Sunday during a private commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the church with some leaders at Gbagada, Lagos State.
The revered holiness preacher recalled how Dosunmu invited him to The Apostolic Faith and he (Kumuyi) gave a condition that Dosunmu must also attend his church, the Cherubim and Seraphim, where he was a drummer.
Kumuyi said after his guest attended the C&S church, he (Kumuyi) asked him to share his thoughts on the service and he simply replied “active”.
“He didn’t say, ‘It was bad, calling the name of angels.’ He just said, ‘active’. He is a good man.
“So, I accepted to go with him to the gospel church. But it was too quiet. People just sat down, they sang and they stood up, there was no dancing, gymnastics, nothing!
“And so, when we came out, he also asked me, ‘How was it?’ I did not have the wisdom they had or anything. But I said, ‘It was too quiet, like somebody in a cemetery, no dancing. I miss the dancing in my church.’
“So, eventually, he invited me again and I kept on going and I began to see the light and on the 5th of April 1964, I went to the altar, surrendered my life to the Lord and became born again,” Kumuyi said of how he was led to Christ.
“And he kept on doing the follow up and teaching me gospel songs, with another friend. Both of them were responsible for making me switch over completely and eventually I became saved, sanctified and baptised in the Holy Ghost. He was a great encouragement to me; that’s why I said I should call him out and show his face to you that this is the man, the brother, the minister that God used for me,” he added.
The cleric, while commending Dosunmu, who also sheltered him at different times, said after he (Kumuyi) started evangelising, he attracted the wrath of the leadership of The Apostolic Faith.
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Allege Assault: OPM defends GO over viral voice note
Stories from Douglas Blessing, Port Harcourt
The Omega Power Ministries (OPM) Worldwide has condemned a voice note going viral on social media, where the speaker accused the founder of the church, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, of allegedly molesting young members of the church in the name of offering them a better life opportunity.
In reaction to the allegation against the philanthropist, Mr. Kenneth Nwachi, Special Duties to Apostle Chibuzor, said it was a cloned voice and, therefore, should be disregarded.
Apostle Chibuzor is the general overseer of OPM, one of the well populated church in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
As a humanitarian, he has built free schools, free hospitals, free estates, given out overseas scholarship to the less privileged Nigerians. He has also built houses for widows, free restaurant, free boutique and many more life-changing projects across the state.
Responding to critics who may have been convinced with the viral recorded voice, Nwachi said the public should ignore the fake audio, said the recording was computer generated which meant to tarnish the good image the general overseer.
He said: “We want to bring to knowledge of the public about a voice recorded message making the rounds in all social media platforms and blogs. The voice was cloned by distractors, haters and enemies of Apostle Dr. Chibuzor Gift Chinyere, Founder / General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries (OPM) Worldwide.
“It is pertinent to let the public know that the fake audio recording was computer generated which meant to tarnish the good image of the man of God and present him in a bad light and also distract him from carrying out his good works of helping the less privileged which God has called him to do.
The truth is that the proponent of this blackmail who claimed to be a medical Doctor in the United States of America and cloned the voice of Apostle Chinyere had earlier demanded for the sum of 1million Dollars from the Man of God to stop this blackmail.
“When it became so obvious that Apostle Chinyere wasn’t ready to respond to the fraudster, he resorted to recruiting people from different part of the world including Nigeria to blackmail the man of God.
“He has recruited various sets of people to tanish his image, malign and ridicule him with fake and non existing stories. He is deceiving his new recruits with promises of money, visas to America and non existent university scholarships”.
Nwachi alleged that the blackmailer are notable personalities who have formed cabal with intent to tarnish Chibuzor’s reputation.
“We have carefully collected evidences of his attempts to recruit naive persons to tarnish the name of the man of God and shall be making them public in due course”.
The SA assured the public that Apostle Chibuzor will not be distracted from preaching the words of God and leading people to Christ and touching the lives of less privileged, widows, orphans and the voiceless.
“Let me assure the public that Apostle Chinyere is more stronger rather than being down as planned by his haters. He will redouble his humanitarian engagements to see that more helpless lives are positively touched.”
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HOMEF to FG: Ensure speedy restoration of degraded Niger Delta environment
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has urged the incoming Minister of Environment to take the issue of environment very seriously, especially in ensuring the restoration of all environmental degraded areas across the country.
The group made the call yesterday, at a training organised in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for community ecodefenders.
The HOMEF also urged the incoming Environment Minister to ensure that the ongoing cleanup exercise in Ogoniland is speedily carried out according to specification of time and as directed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment report.
Speaking with journalists at the programme, Mr Stephen Oduware, Programme Officer for HOMEF, said President Bola Tinubu should appoint someone who is environment friendly, who has the interest of the safety of the environment and is ready to ensure a healthy environment.
Oduware who noted the degraded level of the Niger Delta environment by activities of the oil companies, insisted that the incoming Minister must help to achieve the restoration of the livelihoods of impacted communities in the region.
He said: “We have often seen in Nigeria portfolios and positions given to to people who may not have the environment at heart. So we would say that they should put the square peg in a square hole and put a round peg in a round hole. You don’t need to go and bring somebody who knows nothing or who cares less about the environment because you want to make some group of people happy.
“Nigeria is not a one man’s land. Nigeria should be taken seriously and political appointment should be given to people who have the knowledge, the wherewithal and also, people who are passionate about the environment should be put to handle such positions.
“The Niger Delta is heavily polluted, the corporations are not being regulated, so the minister should first of all, come and have a health audit in the Niger Delta, and in other places where mining acitivities are going on. They should go and clean up areas that have been polluted; they should clean and remediate it, they should also restore the livelihood of community people who have been impacted by their activities for over 60 years of exploration and exploitation activities in the region and in other places in Nigeria”.
On the aim of the training Oduware said: “The participants have been taught about the rudiments of environmental monitoring and also what they can do with the report of such monitoring. So it is expected that as they leave here they are fired up to take into consideration all the happenings in their environment to document it and to also call for action where it is needed”.
Also speaking, Dr David Vareba, a facilitator at the training, said the impact of oil spills in the region is devastating, noting that “environment is our life, is where our first right is because everything we do, our livelihood, our health, our wellbeing, even our culture depends on the environment”.
Vareba who is the Executive Director, Access Africa for Rights and Development Initiative, said sensitise the ecodefenders to do everything they could to ensure that the issue of incessant occurrence of oil spill reduce at a barest minimal.
On the ministerial appointment, he stressed “I am not very optimistic about what they are going to do. We are not going to see a change from what we have seen. When the Environment Minister comes, what we will be seeing is how they will share the slot of the contract within HYPREP.
“We are not envisaging much change but when the Minister comes, as civil society organisations we are going to engage him constructively and tell him the kind of changes we want in the Niger Delta with regards to the environmental laws. Because their concentration is so much around where there is constructs, especially with HYPREP”.
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NPAN congratulates Edun, Idris over their appointments as ministers
The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), has described as well deserved, the appointment as ministers, of Mr Olawale Edun and Alh. Mohammed Idris, both of them were Executive members of the Association.
While Edun was the Treasurer, Idris was the General Secretary, according to a statement signed by Mallam Kabir Yusuf, President, NPAN.
According to the statement, their rich resumes and track records speak for them and we congratulate them on their new assignments, while thanking Mr. President, for giving them the opportunity to contribute to nation building at this critical moment of national development.
Mr. Edun, an economist, was the Chairman of Vintage Press, publishers of Nation Newspapers, while Alh. Idris, a public relations guru and media entrepreneur, is the Publisher of the Blue Print newspapers.
