Oyedepo's ban from UK: The report suspected to have indicted him

News of the alleged barring of the General Overseer of Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, from entering the United Kingdom made the rounds two days ago and many wondered why, while others randomly assumed that it was due to the Ebola scare.

The alleged ban was connected to an inquiry by the UK Charitable Commission, which, according to Daily Mail accused the UK branch of Winners Chapel of swindling supporters.

Below is an excerpt from the report done by Daily Mail, October 2012, which the reported ban may be connected to. It is titled “Laughing on his private jet - the £93m pastor accused of exploiting British worshipers”


"A church run by a controversial multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’ after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who were told that God would give them riches in return.

Followers are ferried in double-decker shuttle buses to the church, handed slips inviting them to make debit card payments, and are even told obeying the ministry’s teachings will make them immune from illness.

Today’s Mail on Sunday revelations about the Winners’ Chapel movement, which holds charitable status, have prompted the Charity Commission to carry out an assessment of the church – one of the fastest-growing in the UK.

Winners’ Chapel is part of a worldwide empire of evangelical ministries run by Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher David Oyedepo, who has an estimated £93 million fortune, a fleet of private jets and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Dubbed ‘The Pastorpreneur’, he was accused earlier this year of slapping the face of a young woman he said was a witch. The assault case was struck out but is being appealed.

Branches of the church have sprung up in major UK cities in a huge recruitment drive centred on Mr Oyedepo’s ‘prosperity gospel’. This claims that congregants who make regular donations and pay tithes – a ten per cent levy on their income – will be rewarded financially by God.

Followers are urged to target vulnerable people such as the lonely, the sick, the homeless and the suicidal as potential candidates for conversion.

Last night, Labour MP Paul Flynn said Winners’ Chapel was cynically exploiting supporters. ‘They [Winners’ Chapel] are making clearly spurious claims and it seems to be a cynical exploitation of the gullible,’ he said.

Referring to the slapping incident, Mr Flynn added: ‘What is also alarming is the reported violence and the lack of respect for the status of women. It’s taking us back to a previous age of ignorance and prejudice that we all thought the church had escaped.’

Caught slapping "the devil" out of a lady

This newspaper’s investigation can further disclose:

•    Congregants are handed a payment slip requesting payments using cheque, cash or debit card when they enter London’s Winners’ Chapel.
•    Donations to the ministry in England almost doubled from £2.21 million to £4.37 million between 2006 and 2010.
•    Mr Oyedepo’s superchurch in Nigeria received £794,000 or 73 per cent of the charitable donations paid out by the British Winners’ Chapel between 2007 and 2010. This was despite claims in Africa that he is enriching himself at the expense of his devotees.
•    The registered charity has spent £6.81 million on evangelism and ‘praise, worship and fellowship’.
•    The church’s ‘Joseph Squad’ preaches in British prisons and has a weekly broadcast named ‘Liberation Hour’ on satellite and cable TV here.
In the past three years, Winners’ Chapel churches have been established in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford, adding to those in London, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow. "