by Precious Adeloju

The said video, mass-produced but not censored by the National Film and Video Censors Board, and on sale in illegal makeshift shops around the state, features a woman clad in native regalia which gave her a familiar look of a typical member of a Nigerian political party. She, indeed, revealed that she is a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

For a few days now, a video that claims to be broadcasting secrets of The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement (aka Lord’s Chosen) and ostensibly that of the church’s head, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, has been circulating in Lagos. The said video, mass-produced but not censored by the National Film and Video Censors Board, and on sale in illegal makeshift shops around the state, features a woman clad in native regalia which gave her a familiar look of a typical member of a Nigerian political party. She, indeed, revealed that she is a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Many who have been conversant with the Nigerian dailies would instantly recall and connect this lady with The Lord’s Chosen  Church. She actually began what could be termed a campaign of calumny, defamation and assassination of character against the person of the church’s General Overseer, Pastor Muoka, about four years ago.

Her attack on Muoka came on the heels of a fall-out between the Church and herself. The writer didn’t witness what transpired but from her accounts and the accounts of a few other close associates of Muoka, it was gathered that things fell apart between the two when a team of the Law Enforcement Agency stormed her shop around the church’s premises in Ijesha, Lagos, to demolish the shop on the grounds of it being not only an illegal structure but also a platform for promoting and circulating pirated CDs and DVDs from Alaba and Idumota markets. The woman said in the clip that she has been sponsored to circulate some materials. According to her: “After, my shop was destroyed, where I was using to sell the goods I was getting from Alaba and Idumota markets. When we went for the Onistha crusade, I came back to discover that my container shop has been demolished again. And I was very angry. I was lamenting why Fashola would demolish my shop because it wasn’t on the main road, it was in the church’s premises. But a brother told me that it wasn’t Fashola, that it was Muoka.  I was angry at him saying that couldn’t happen. But when I went to Alausa ( Lagos State Secretariat) I was told that it was the Lord’s Chosen that wrote them to demolish my shop. They even showed me the letter from the church to confirm it. I was really mad and took Okada (motorbike) back to the church to confront the pastor, he first denied it but when I showed him the letter he signed, he began to counsel me saying that the business I was doing was distracting me from evangelism for the church….”

A discerning mind would have to ask a very important question based on this lady’s allegation: Why didn’t she mention the goods she was selling and getting from Alaba and Idumota markets?. The answer to such question is only too obvious, given the notorious reputation of the two markets as havens for pirated intellectual properties in the country.

Another sponsored campaign of calumny stage-managed were claims that Pastor Muoka has sued her and the husband for various offences ranging from defamation of character, and giving false information to the police against him: Her point is that it is wrong for the cleric to sue her and her husband because he is a man of God.

Who preaches that Christians shouldn’t have any dealings with the unbelievers! And I wonder what yardsticks she is using to describe an unbeleiver? That a man is in the police force makes him an unbeliever?

Why shouldn’t the cleric or his team of lawyers institute a legal or civil case against anyone who plans to defame the church or the person of Muoka? Haven’t we witnessed other mega churches such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God ( RCCG), Winners Chapel, Catholic Church, Christ Embassy, and Christ Apostolic Church in legal tussles with individuals or organisations when  occasions warrant it? If Ezonye and her husband are trying to constitute nuisance and defame the reputation of the church in this modern age, why shouldn’t the church’s legal team swing into action by instituting a legal case against them?

Oh! She wanted them to keep mum and watch her drag the good name of the church and that of its leader in the mud: They should clap for her while she goes about giving false information to the police, telling them the pastor arranged for her kidnap in the court before the judge, policemen and members of the public and dropped her on the road thereafter! And, such information, leading to the arrest, detention and torture of the church’s prominent representative and head of communication for four days without fair hearing or charge to court! She expects the church’s legal team to hold a party for her after such ugly and unpalatable development!.

This lady and her sponsors are making Nigerians think that when they (herself and her husband) receive police invitation or court notice based on their previous inactions against the church, it is Pastor Muoka instigating such moves. Meanwhile, in the real sense of it, the church’s legal team and corporate department both have duties to perform on behalf of the church. Such duties are bound to be performed when the need arises. This is because when you fight the church, the church as an organisation, a corporate body, would also fight back and not Pastor Muoka who is only a spiritual head of the church. So, this lady and her sponsors should stop the infamous campaign and false alarm they are raising against the person of Pastor Muoka because it is the church as a corporate entity that fights back when they attack the church.

Her treachery and dubiuos nature are exposed in her confession that she used to address Pastor Muoka as “My lord”. That sounds strange to a sound mind because of all the years I have been associating with the man of God, I have never heard anyone call or address him as “my lord”! We know people who use such flattering accolades: Sycophants!

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Read this article in the Sun Newspapers

 

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