Fr. Mbaka resurrects democracy in Igboland.....SKC Ogbonnia:

SKC Ogbonnia: Fr. Mbaka resurrects democracy in Igboland

By Daily Post Staff on January 13, 2015@dailypostngr

Any political system without dynamic opposition necessary for the essential competition, accountability, and checks and balances is tantamount to dictatorship and abuse of power. But that has been the case with the presidential politics of the Southeast (SE) zone of Nigeria since the recent democratic transition. The rationale is that a wholesale support for the national ruling party offers best hope, and any counter opinion is a naked sin.

This idea had seemed like the ultimate game-changer. For the various national governments quickly reciprocated, offering rounds of elite portfolios to politicians from the Igbo Southeast. The presidents also backed their agenda with promises and policies that usually appear like the erudite solution to the Igbo’s ageless cries for marginalization. Yet the condition of federal amenities in the zone remains a bad dream told in a hurry.

To make matters worse, the vulnerable masses are usually told to stay the course, with most of the SE governors begging President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan not to campaign in the zone this time. To them, the Igbos should stand 100% behind the president, regardless of whether he delivered on past promises or not. They would argue that, even if not for performance, the people should lend their support based on the parochial mantra that Jonathan also bears Igbo names—“Ebele and Azikiwe”.

The obvious implication is that there is no day of reckoning in this part of the country for broken promises or the various projects funded but either poorly executed or totally abandoned by contractors in cahoots with their Igbo cohorts in the Jonathan regime. Worst of all, the mood of the governors had also hoodwinked the opposition parties to assume that SE votes were firmly in the president’s corner thus clearly negating the all-important competition and checks and balances fundamental for a true democratic culture.

Consequently, there is no strong voice alert to expose the failures of the federal government toward effective leadership in the SE zone. The quagmire becomes more glaring when considered that their two premier pressure groups, the Ohaneze NdiIgbo and World Igbo Congress, have become infiltrated by political buccaneers who sing the president’s praises at home and abroad. Perhaps individuals can raise pertinent issues, but a salient problem with the Igbos is that since the death of Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the zone has not identified a leader with mass following who could call a spade a spade.

Enter Rev. Fr. Camillus Ejike Mbaka, the dynamic Roman Catholic priest, whose words are enough to mesmerize his fiercest opponents, let alone the Christian faithful, including politicians, who throng day in and day out to his Adoration Ministry in Enugu for spiritual healing—and from far and wide.

One of such faithful is no other person than Dame Patience Jonathan, the ebullient First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who visited the priest on November 9, 2014 to seek heavenly blessings for the husband’s forthcoming 2015 presidential election. Given the dominant support the president enjoys in Igboland and within the Christian Association of Nigeria, Fr. Mbaka glowingly eulogized President Jonathan to the high heavens while invoking the Holy Spirit to stoke a fiery swipe at the opposition, brazenly associating the leading opposition party to the deadly Boko Haram insurgents terrorizing Nigeria. Lo and behold, the First Lady and the teeming congregation roared in agreement. The open aspersions on the opposition and consequent anointment of the sitting president easily served as a pious reminder that there would be no cause for competition for Igbo votes in the presidential polls. Even more, the supporters of the president across the country quickly hailed, lustily drumming the ocassion to further legitimize the reverend gentleman as an unsung saint. But that was then.

Fast forward to December 31, 2014, a day the priest had reserved for unveiling his traditional New Year blessings and prophesies. Fully informed by the true condition on the ground as it affects his adoring worshipers and the common people of the Southeast; and, more importantly, exigently inspired by the Holy Spirit; the Fr. Mbaka in his sermon, “From good luck to bad luck”, lampooned President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he initially endorsed, and equated him with failure on all accounts. The bottom line is that the Roman Catholic priest has swiftly switched his support from the president, a fellow Christian and Southerner, to his closest rival in General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), who is not only a Muslim but also from the far North.

As expected, the Prophesy sent shock waves throughout the breath and depth of the Nigerian polity. While the opposition embraced it with pomp and pageantry, the ruling party and its supporters have castigated the priest, now comparing him to the biblical Judas Iscariot.

But the two camps should have no cause for alarm. Prophesies are known to work in miraculous ways. Besides, objective criticism or competition should not discourage but challenge human efforts to greater purpose and possibilities. President Jonathan can overcome the trepidations of the prophesy by doing the needful, exhibiting true leadership, challenging himself to the greater possibilities, starting by Nigeria
Either way, Nigerians, particularly the Igbo masses are the true winners.

The objective fact is that Mbaka’s prophesy is far beyond the simplistic equate of voting for Goodluck Jonathan or Muhammadu Buhari as we know it. Rather, the Prophesy has profoundly resurrected democracy in Igboland for the greater good of the society. For the first time in a long time, the Igbo masses are witnessing in presidential politics a semblance of opposition and the competition vitally essential for democracy, and their votes will not be taken for granted this time. President Jonathan, who was previously dissuaded from campaigning in Igboland, is now truly asking for votes in the zone, rendering accounts of his stewardship, and offering new promises as well as the much needed portions of the presidential war chest. It is also a win-win for democracy that General Buhari, having previously written off the Igbo votes, now sees a huge opening and has begun to vigorously campaign in Igbo cities, offering alternative solutions and his own promises.

The immediate effect is that the Igbos have rediscovered their true DNA and are more emboldened than ever. The Ohaneze, which had maintained a naïve posture, has now discarded its original idea for blanket endorsement and instead opted to list conditions for the people’s votes. The pro-Igbo party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which had already endorsed President Jonathan, is also seriously reevaluating. Even Alexander Ekwueme, an eminent Igbo figure of the ruling party and a former Vice President of Nigeria, never known for careless vituperations, has erupted with his own salvo, admonishing Jonathan for actions instead of mere words.

The Igbo masses are not left behind on the heightened awareness. They have begun to ask pertinent questions, and openly and rightly so, on numerous abandoned or phantom projects, most of which are fully funded but nothing to show on the ground. They are also asking about mass unemployment and kidnapping in the zone, the state of federal universities and teaching hospitals, the quality and state of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, 2nd River Niger Bridge and its PPP/Toll implications, Onitsha Seaport, the sixth state for South East, revitalizing Coal-for-Power, Gas Pipeline across Igbo mainland, inclusion of more Igbo states in OMPADEC, the Southeast/Southwest Rail Line, the endless massacre of Igbo Christians by Boko Haram under Jonathan’s watch; and the state of other infrastructures, particularly the two most important thoroughfares in Igboland: the Enugu/Port Harcourt and Enugu/Onitsha Express roads, constructed under Obasanjo’s military regime, but have remained death traps for decades, even after billions have been allocated.

These dateless but largely ignored projects, ordinarily the anticipated democratic dividend central to the welfare of Igbo masses, are squarely resurrected as part of the national debate; Thanks to the Prophesy of Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka!

•  PDP threatens showdown as Amaechi blocks use of Port Harcourt stadium for Jonathan’s campaign

*Dr. SKC Ogbonnia is the Executive Director, Patriots United for Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria (PUTAN); Phone: 281-802-3449

http://dailypost.ng/2015/01/13/skc-ogbonnia-fr-mbaka-resurrects-democracy-igboland/

“Black West Africa” and “Boko Haram” Are Not A Priority – White House

BLACK WEST AFRICA IS NOT A PRIORITY

If you are still expecting anything from America and 

 probably Europe  ..then watch this interview and analysis.

 Too Bad !!!

Indians handing death and slavery to Nigerians

on January 17, 2015   / BY OUR REPORTER

The Indians instructed two Nigerians whom they employed for “cleaning up” such messes for them to use the same forklift to take the dying Tosin out of the company unto the road leading to a hospital

The forklift lifted tons of iron inside the Indian company – African Wires and Allied Industries Nigeria Limited, Plot No. 4-6, Opic Industrial Estate, Agbara, Ogun State. But two heavy discs of iron hooked, so Tosin Olajide, one of the hundreds of casual workers at the company, went up to free the two irons weighing over 1.5 tons each. Suddenly, one of the irons came down on him, trapping him to the ground. No safety helmet was provided for Tosin by the Indians. It took the same forklift to lift the tonnage of iron before the boy could be pulled out.
But the damage had already been done. The iron had chopped off part of his face and broke his foot! His work mates present at the scene of the accident said blood was pumping out of his nostrils as water would rush out of a tap. “Such accidents occur regularly there,” said former safety officer of the company, Mr. Jonathan Abimbola.
Tosin’s life could have been saved if the company had been prompt in providing transport and rushing Tosin to the hospital, eyewitnesses insisted. Unable to find a vehicle in a company whose turnover runs into millions of naira, the Indians instructed two Nigerians who they employed for “cleaning up” such messes for them to use the same forklift to take the dying Tosin out of the company unto the road leading to a hospital. After some kilometers, they saw a pick-up van and transferred Tosin into it. They drove him to one ill-equipped hospital used by the company. But there was no doctor there to attend to the boy. The nurse advised them to take Tosin to the Badagry General Hospital. On their way to Badagry, the pick-up van carrying Tosin broke down. Tosin gave up the ghost before they could reach the general hospital.

Police connivance
With the assistance of the DPO of Agbara police station, said to be at beck and call of the Indians who own the company, Tosin’s body was deposited at the Badagry general hospital mortuary.
Angered by the negligence with which Tosin was handled by management, his colleagues, on the following morning, Thursday 11 December, 2014, gathered at the entrance of the company, refusing to go in. The Indians swiftly reacted by calling in policemen and MOPOLS from Agbara. The DPO of Agbara police station came personally. Together, the policemen fired tear-gas canisters at the workers, beating them and seizing the mobile phones of those who tried to take pictures of the brutality.
Tosin, Saturday Vanguard learnt, could hardly be up to 23 years old, though Mr. Samuel Ogundimu, the personnel manager and one of the most disgusting Nigerian lapdogs of the Indians, according to sources, told our reporter that Tosin was 28.
Tosin had laboured for years for African Wires and Allied Industries under Parco Group of companies for a paltry N850 a day as casual worker, working from 7am to 7pm. Parco Group of
Companies is owned by the Guptas, one of the richest Indians who have lived and done business in Nigeria for more than 50 years, exploiting the endemic circumstances.
Last year, the company employed Mr. Jonathan Abimbola, a chemical engineering graduate from a UK university, as a Safety Officer, “not that the company cared about safety,” said a company source, “but because they wanted to use him as a shield from the harassment of the officials of the
Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity and Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.”

Massive exploitation, deadly work conditions
The company thought it could use Mr. Jonathan in the usual way it uses other Nigerians, but that was not to be. Mr. Jonathan was shocked at the way the company uses and exploits Nigerians. For instance, people worked more than the number of hours stipulated by labour laws without any payment for overtime. Moreover, there are no safety measures whatsoever in the company. The Indians expose Nigerians who work for them to all manner of dangers, and whenever accidents occur, the victim or the victim’s family only get a ridiculous amount as compensation.

Death of Tosin’s elder brother
Last year, the chief driver of the company, Tosin Olajide’s elder brother, who drives Mr. Narayan (MD), slumped and died after closing work. Those who should know said “nothing reasonable” was done for the chief driver.
The same year, Onyebuchi, another casual worker, got drowned in a deep reservoir filled with alum water while trying to clean himself up after work. It was not until 12.30 after midnight that Onyebuchi’s body was pulled out of the large body of alum water.
At first, the company was said to have offered Onyebuchi’s family N150,000 as compensation. However, the fiery safety officer, Mr. Abimbola, demanded N5 million for the family. At last, one of the Nigerian lawyers working for the Indians arm-twisted onyebuchi’s family and convinced them to collect N600,000.

Fear of govt agencies
Besides exposing Nigerians who labour for them to danger and making money with their blood and sweat, many don’t understand the attitude of the Indians inside the OPIC Estate any time some kind of inspection team comes around. They can’t explain the pandemonium that occasionally ensues among the Indians whenever officials of the Nigeria Immigration Services, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, or other government agencies, arrive at the company’s gate without prior notice to the Indians.
What could be happening inside the OPIC Estate? Have the Indians fully declared to regulatory agencies and the Nigerian government, all the business activities engaged by the four companies rolled into one – the acid plant, the silicate plant, the fertilizer section, and the wire section? Although this may not be said of OPIC there are companies owned by Indians which enjoy duty waivers for the importation of certain goods like irons for the purpose of building factories. But when they import the goods they turn back and sell those goods to Nigerians, forcing the country to continue to be a consumer economy dependent on imported goods, while their home country, India, is known for its booming technology, health export and manufacturing.

But one may blame this on Nigeria’s leaders and government and not those who exploit the circumstances created by Nigeria’s failure.
The Indians make the government believe that their businesses in Nigeria are providing employment to Nigerians. This may appear to be true on face value, but in reality, their exploitative tendencies are a sad commentary. For instance, out of hundreds of Nigerians who work for companies owned by Indians in Nigeria, only a handful of them, probably less than 10, are staffed. Many of them are paid as little as N600 per day, working from 7 am to 7 pm.
The Indian exploitation and enslavement of Nigerians is not limited to their factories.

They select Nigerian young girls meeting their fancies and employ them at home, where they work as cleaners and as sex slaves for Indian men whose wives do not live with them in Nigeria. Sexual harassment of the young Nigerian ladies, even the married ones who work for them, is already viral on the Internet. Nigerian authorities including the police, immigration and Standard Organisation also compromise on matters of compliance to rules as the police demonstrated when Tosin died.
As we write this story, Tosin who died a few days ago has already been buried and forgotten.
“They have completely bought over the Agbara police station,” a company staff told us, adding “you need to see where a policeman is saluting an illiterate Indian. They have also bought over the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity. Their contact man at Abeokuta (name withheld) who is on their payroll to make sure that unionism does not take root in the company.”

Tax evasion
Many companies owned by Indians and Lebanese or where they head prefer to bribe tax officials and get tax clearance than to pay their taxes.

Environmental contamination and pollution
There is the issue of environmental pollution and contamination of sources of drinking water supply. Since environmental laws and regulations in Nigeria are porous, hardly enforced, foreigners have field days flouting environmental provisions. Some companies channel toxic waste from the acid and silicate plants directly into gutters. Since the largest sources of drinking water for people nowadays are boreholes, one can almost be certain that the water from those boreholes have been
contaminated by waste water and from factories.
Apart from poor working conditions and pay, it is not surprising that some of the Indian companies are highly insensitive to the environment. In June 2012, an Indian Company, Top Steel Nig. Ltd, in a seeming display of insensitivity to the environment, reportedly erected a transmission pillar and ran a high tension power transmission line directly over the roof of an industrial complex owned by Isocare West Africa Ltd., in which over 100 Nigerians work daily. Both companies are located at the Ikorodu Industrial Estate, Odogunyan, Lagos.
On June 5, 2012, the counsel to Isocare West Africa had met with the General Manager of Top-Steel Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Rajendra Bharadia and explained to him the dangerous implications of mounting a high tension wire directly over the roof of the industrial complex of Isocare West African Limited and advised him to have a rethink.
Mr. Bharadia however, rebuffed the entreaties and went ahead with the project.
Following Isocare’s complaint and petition, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) inspected the project and issued an abatement notice to Top Steel and its General Manager Mr. Rajendra Bharadia to discontinue the project. The order was also ignored by the company.
The Ikorodu Local Government Environmental Task Force also issued a stop work order that and was also ignored.
At the time, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, in a statement by the Principal Manager (Public Affairs) Mr. Jude Oyenuga, said it portended grave hazards to have buildings or activities under or even within close proximity of a high tension wire.
His words: “The public should bear in mind that these electrical materials are persistently exposed to mother nature which makes them vulnerable to wear and tear. This could lead to the snapping of the line and such accident could happen without notice with dire consequences”.
Mr. Bharadia, after several complaints and directives to him to stop work, was said to have got top officials at the Army Barrack in Ikorodu, Nigerian soldiers and mobile Policemen and stationed them at the construction site, while he personally supervised the erection of the high tension wire. Staff of Isocare West Africa who attempted to take pictures of the erection of the high tension wire over Isocare were reportedly brutalized by mobile policemen.

Culpability of govt agencies, others

Certainly, it would almost be impossible for these companies to succeed without the help of some Nigerians themselves. Beside the officials of the regulatory and law enforcement agencies they keep some faithful Nigerians as members of staff – men who serve as fronts and intermediaries between them and those they compromise.
Reliable sources gave Saturday Vanguard the names of some of those obedient lapdogs in OPIC Estate.
The Personnel Manager, of African Wires and Allied Industries, Mr. Ogundimu, a retiree from a textile company denied that Nigerian workers were being treated poorly. In a telephone interview with Saturday Vanguard, Mr. Ogundimu said Nigerian workers were better treated than what we were told.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/indians-handing-death-slavery-nigerians/#sthash.IScojVSq.dpuf
 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/indians-handing-death-slavery-nigerians/

UK envoy lambasts TB Joshua over AirAsia crash prophesy

Tuesday, December 30, 2014
UK envoy lambasts TB Joshua over AirAsia crash prophesy by Temitayo Famutimi

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The founder of the Synagogue Church of all Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, has claimed that he saw a vision of the disappearance of a Singapore-bound AirAsia plane days before the incident. The AirAsia Flight QZ8501, which had 16 children and 146 other passengers and crew members on board, was said to have disappeared from the radar in Surabaya, Indonesia on Sunday. Following the disappearance of the passenger plane, SCOAN released a video on its YouTube page, in which TB Joshua accused Indonesia of failing to heed its earlier warning. "I have a message for the nation, Indonesia. This country, Indonesia – I don't know what is happening. They should pray for Indonesia. That is, the nation Indonesia. When it comes to this disaster issue, I don't want to mention it. It looks so nasty to me to mention – a situation where it will cost a lot of lives, suddenly. "This is a crash. Why should this continue to happen there? I think there is a nature – a geographical atmosphere. There is something there that they should look into," TB Joshua stated in the video sermon which the church claimed had been shot days before the plane's disappearance. The church added that on its YouTube page that in spite of the Indonesia's failure to look into the "geographical atmosphere," TB Joshua and his followers had begun praying "that God would strengthen the family members and friends of all those involved in this tragic incident." But the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, urged the general public to dismiss TB Joshua's claims. "But he couldn't prophecy his own church collapsing, killing over 100?" Benjamin, a British foreign service officer of 28 years, who has simultaneous diplomatic accreditationto Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, said via his Twitter page. Apart from the UK diplomat who carpeted TB Johsua over his claims, an online outrage trailed his prophesy. A Black Briton, based in Croydon, United Kingdom, Melody Badza-Chinouriri, lambasted for claiming to have foretold the air disaster. Badza-Chinourir said, "I will never run to a man who does not even own up to the disaster he failed to avert at his backyard. He even blatantly refused to attend the coroner inquest despite repeated invitations. No accountability whatsoever. "I hope Nigeria will wake up and arrest him this time round. He is putting that country on the spot for wrong reasons. Let him prophesy all the killings happening in Nigeria. Many people have died in Nigeria than Indonesia. You have a prophet; why are you perishing then in Nigeria?" A respondent on Lawyer Omegad queried the credibility of the said video, adding that TB Joshua's controversial prophecies were useless as they had over the years failed to redeem lives. "How come we are only seeing this so-called prophesy today? It's obvious the video was posted many hours after the plane has already gone missing. I doubt this because God revels to redeem," Omegad said. Another online activist, Emeka Martins, said, "Indeed most Nigerians are gullible. Why should they believe in prophesies of end-time fake pastors. TB Joshua should explain to the court what led to the death of those people in his synagogue. Why did he not prophesy his own calamity?" While other online commentators taunted the clergyman strings of prophecies, some Nigerians challenged him to foretell the day in which the abducted Chibok girls would be freed by the fundamentalist Islamist sect, Boko Haram. "We don't want to know which disaster is next, we want a prayer that will bring the Chibok girls back home," a respondent, Samuel David, wrote on SCOAN's YouTube page. However, TB Joshua's followers rallied round him, fending off criticisms of what they described as his divine calling. A Malawian, Elsie PembeKumwenda, insisted on Facebook that the cleric is God sent, saying, "Prophet TB Joshua is doing what no one can do today. Whatever he prophesises comes to pass, yet we don't believe him. We usually regret our actions when it (tragedy) happens. May God give our prophet more of his grace


http://odili.net/news/source/2014/dec/30/821.html

Nigeria's 'megachurches': a hidden pillar of Africa's top economy

Insight - Nigeria's 'megachurches': a hidden pillar of Africa's top economy

 

By Tim CocksOctober 12, 2014 2:19 AM

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Bishop David Oyedepo (C), founder of the Living Faith Church, also known as the Winners' Chapel, …

By Tim Cocks

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OTA Nigeria (Reuters) - When a guesthouse belonging to one of Nigeria's leading Christian pastors collapsed last month, killing 115 mostly South African pilgrims, attention focussed on the multimillion-dollar "megachurches" that form a huge, untaxed sector of Africa's top economy.

Hundreds of millions of dollars change hands each year in these popular Pentecostal houses of worship, which are modelled on their counterparts in the United States.

Some of the churches can hold more than 200,000 worshippers and, with their attendant business empires, they constitute a significant section of the economy, employing tens of thousands of people and raking in tourist dollars, as well as exporting Christianity globally.

But exactly how much of Nigeria's $510 billion GDP they make up is difficult to assess, since the churches are, like the oil sector in Africa's top energy producer, largely opaque entities.

"They don't submit accounts to anybody," says Bismarck Rewane, economist and CEO of Lagos consultancy Financial Derivatives. "At least six church leaders have private jets, so they have money. How much? No one really knows."

When Nigeria recalculated its GDP in March, its economy became Africa's biggest, as previously poorly captured sectors such as mobile phones, e-commerce and its prolific "Nollywood" entertainment industry were specifically included in estimates.

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Worshippers, dressed in traditional attires, attend a church service at the Living Faith Church, als …

There was no such separate listing for the "megachurches", whose main source of income is "tithe", the 10 percent or so of their income that followers are asked to contribute.

As the churches have charity status, they have no obligation to open their books, and certainly don't have to fill in tax returns -- an exemption that is increasingly controversial in Nigeria, where poverty remains pervasive despite the oil riches.

The pastors argue their charity work should exempt them.

"We use the income of the church to build schools, we use the income of the church to serve the needs of the poor," David Oyedepo, bishop of the popular Winners Chapel, told Reuters in an interview. "These are non-profit organisations."

PASTORS ON FORBES LIST

Nonetheless, the surging popularity of the megachurches among the Christians who make up half of Nigeria's 170 million population has propelled their preachers into the ranks of the richest people in Africa.

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Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of the Living Faith Church, also known as the Winners' Chapel, ges …

In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated the fortunes of Nigeria's five richest pastors. Oyedepo topped the list, with an estimated net worth of $150 million.

He was followed by "Pastor Chris" Oyakhilome of Believers' LoveWorld Incorporated, also known as the Christ Embassy and popular with executives and politicians, on $30 million to $50 million.

TB Joshua, pastor of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, at the centre of the recent diplomatic storm over the deaths in its guesthouse, was thought to have $10 million to $15 million.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) declined to comment on how churches fit into their GDP figures, but a source there said they were included as "non-profit", which falls under "other services" in the latest figures. In 2013, the category contributed 2.5 percent of GDP, the same as the financial sector.

A former banker at Nigeria's United Bank for Africa, who declined to be named, recalled being approached five years ago by a church that was bringing in $5 million a week from contributions at home or abroad.

"They wanted to make some pretty big investments: real estate, shares," he said. "They wanted to issue a bond to borrow, and then use the weekly flows to pay the coupon."

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Choir members play saxophones during a church service at the auditorium of the Living Faith Church,  …

In the end, he said, the bank turned down the proposal on ethical grounds.

Yet Nigerian churches do often invest large amounts of their congregations' money in shares and property, at home and abroad, he and another banking source said.

One pastor bought 3 billion naira ($18 million) worth of shares in the defunct Finbank, which later merged with FCMB, after it was rescued in a bail-out in 2009, a fund manager who handled the deal told Reuters. The pastor used a nominee trust account to keep his name off the books.

In 2011, Oyakhilome was investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and charged with laundering $35 million of contributions to his church in foreign bank accounts. He denied all wrongdoing and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Oyakhilome was not available for comment and Joshua's media team declined a request for an interview with him.

MIDAS TOUCH

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A woman sells envelopes for tithe offerings before a church service at the Living Faith Church, also …

Oyedepo's headquarters, "Canaanland", is a 10,500-acre (4250-hectare) campus in Ota, outside the commercial capital Lagos. It comprises a university, two halls of accommodation, restaurants and a church seating 50,000 people, with a total overflow capacity of five times that.

"You can see that everything this man touches turns to gold," Nigerian Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina said in a speech at a reception for Oyedepo's 60th birthday at Canaanland last month.

"May the grace of God abide with you," he added, to a rapturous "Amen!" from the guests in a marquee.

Other dignitaries present included twice-president Olusegun Obasanjo and former military ruler Yakubu Gowon. A choir sang gospel songs as the guests cut an elaborate six-tiered cake and popped fizzy grape juice out of champagne bottles in golden wrapping -- alcohol is banned in Canaanland.

The next day, he delivered four Sunday services in a row to tens of thousands of cheering followers, his white-suited figure projected onto large flat-screen televisions all around.

"From today, no evil spirit, no demon will survive the Almighty!" he shouted, and the crowd roared "Amen!".

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Books, many written by Bishop David Oyedepo (C), founder of the Living Faith Church, also known as t …

A spokesman said the church has 5,000 branches across Nigeria, and 1,000 more in 63 other countries across five continents. But Oyedepo's empire also includes two fee-paying universities that he built from scratch, a publishing house for Christian self-help books, and an elite high school.

Other pastors have similarly diversified ways of getting the Gospel of Christian salvation out.

Oyakhilome owns magazines, newspapers and 24-hour TV station, and Joshua draws miracle-seekers from all over the world with claims that the holy water he has blessed cures otherwise incurable ailments such as HIV/AIDS.

Before Joshua built his 10,000-seat headquarters at Ikotun-Egbe in outer Lagos, the area was part swamp, part abandoned industrial estate.

Now, it is a boom town with shops, hotels, eateries and bars catering largely to the travellers who come not only from West Africa but also from all corners of the globe to hear his sermons. Joshua also runs a TV station.

"BLESSED BY THE LORD"

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A mini sculpture in the shape of the Bible is displayed next to an award (L) for Bishop David Oyedep …

Guests entering Oyedepo's birthday marquee in Canaanland would have seen a picture of the poor household in southwest Nigeria where he grew up, testament to a rags-to-riches story that many Nigerians would love to emulate.

Like U.S. televangelists, Winners Chapel preaches the "prosperity gospel" that faith in Jesus Christ lifts people out of poverty, and that message partly explains the explosion of the Pentecostal movement in sub-Saharan Africa, where misfortune and poverty are often seen as having supernatural causes.

"We see giving as the only way to be blessed. Blessing other people is a way of keeping the blessings flowing," said Oyedepo, whose blessings include a Gulfstream V jet and several BMWs.

Giving to support the church and its work is something the faithful are encouraged to do, a Christian tradition that was a pillar of the Roman Catholic church in medieval Europe, just as it has been a major money-spinner for U.S. televangelists.

Aneke Chika, a business analyst in an oil services company, told Reuters on the steps of Oyedepo's church that she set aside 20,000 naira of her 200,000 naira ($1,218) salary every month.

Asked about Forbes' estimate of his fortune, Oyedepo told Reuters: "For me, to have fortune means someone who has what he needs at any point in time. I don't see myself as having $150 million stacked up somewhere. Whatever way they found their figures, I am only able to say I am blessed by the Lord."

He said he could not estimate the church's total revenues or expenditure on items such as salaries because the various departments, including education, were too diverse.

The enterprises on the Canaanland campus, from the shops selling cold sodas and bread, to a woman boiling instant noodles and eggs for breakfast in a lodge, to pop-up book stalls hawking Oyedepo's prolific literary output, are owned by the church's estate, which employs their staff on its payroll, workers at all the outlets told Reuters.

Winners Chapel's Corporate Affairs department said the church employed more than 18,000 people in Nigeria alone.

Oyedepo says the wealth the church gathers is invested in expanding it, and that if he did not use a private jet, he would be unable to oversee its many foreign operations and still return to Ota every week in time for Sunday's worship.

Britain's Charity Commission says it is reviewing potential conflicts of interest in his finances, and last month the Home Office (interior ministry) barred him from Britain, though it declined to say why.

Oyedepo said he knew nothing of the commission's review, nor had the Home Office explained to him why he was barred.

A national conference to debate Nigeria's constitution this year proposed that the megachurches should be taxed.

But with an election coming up in February, it is debatable whether President Goodluck Jonathan, who is close to several megapastors, would risk upsetting these influential men and their hefty congregations with a fat tax bill.

"There is no single government input on this premises," Oyedepo told Reuters in the interview. "We supply our water, we make our roads, then you ... say: 'Let's tax them'. For what?"

(1 US dollar = 164.2 naira)

(Additional reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha in Lagos and Ahmed Aboulenein in London; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Kevin Liffey)

http://news.yahoo.com/insight-nigerias-megachurches-hidden-pillar-africas-top-economy-061027025.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory