Bishop David Oyedepo speaks about those criticizing him, Covenant University fees

Founder of the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), Bishop David Oyedepo, has spoken out about the many controversial reports about him on the social media.

 Speaking to journalists on Friday in Ota, Ogun State, at a media chat organised in commemoration of his 60th birthday coming up on September 27, Oyedepo said he had always been silent about those reports because he considered it a waste of time to reply.

His words: “My understanding of opposition, persecution is simply someone’s opinion harshly expressed. Everybody has a right to his opinion. Today, millions follow after Christ but you will be surprised that when you get to Israel some people do not believe that Christ has come.

“People have rights to their opinions. I naturally don’t feel it’s necessary (to respond). The energy I would need to react, I can use it to make moves. I have enough to think about than start running after a man who says you are a fool.

“If he says you are a fool and you are behaving so, then he’s right. If you leave your job and start pursuing somebody who says you are a fool, he has already said so, your going around doesn’t change it. So why going around, why don’t you settle on your job and make moves?

“I’ve also come to understand that those who make news hardly watch them, they are so busy making news while others are busy watching”.

Oyedepo’s church owns two universities – Covenant University and Hallmark University –which have been criticized, alongside other private universities owned by churches, of being too expensive for the average church member.


But Oyedepo said Nigerians’ complaints about the cost of education in private universities were founded on misplaced priorities. According to him, there is no shying away from the fact that “education is expensive. Education carries cost; nothing of value is free”.

He said:“Our problem most of the time is priority; an average Nigerian can spend N1m on burial but to spend N200,000 on education (is a problem), because of wrong priority.

“On a yearly basis, we have N1.5trn that Nigerians spend on overseas universities, so people thrive on it. Nigerians spend N463bn a month on recharge cards, how much are they paying for schools fees? So it’s all a matter of priority. This is the largest market for telephone in the world. Now, to pay N500,000, some people have only one son, they have huge business and houses all over the places, they will never pay it”.