Scandal in God's House!
May 15, 2005
Posted to the web May 17, 2005
Sam Eyoboka
Benny Hinn's $1m tears top pastors apart
PFN raises probe panel
WHEN Charismatic Warri-based preacher, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, took over the leadership of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, as national president in February after its eighth biennial conference, he made a pledge to sanitize the fellowship and rid it of evil-minded charlatans. He convened the first executive council meeting of the body in April. After the meeting, he addressed newsmen during which he reiterated his desire to flush out all elements capable of bringing the reputation of pentecostalism in Nigeria to disrepute.
That was before the so much talked about Benny Hinn Healing Crusade that took place at the Redemption Camp on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from April 29 to May 1.
The aftermath of that spiritual exercise has now presented the acid test of Oritsejafor's exccutive council as the leadership of the PFN, comprising eminent men of God, including Dr. Wilson Badejo of the Foursquare Gospel Church as vice president and Bishop Joseph Ojo of Calvary Kingdom Church as the national general secretary, has on its hands a case that might attract the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Claims and counter-claims of financial impropriety concerning the crusade were flagged off by the American evangelist, Benny Hinn, who voiced his anger by alleging that his ministry spent $4 million on a crusade that could have been conducted with less than $2 million.
Attendance in crusade
He was said to have left the country in anger last Sunday night instead of last Monday morning he was scheduled to leave, saying, "I am not happy at all. We expected a larger crowd here because we were told that we would have millions of people in attendance in this crusade. This crusade that cost our ministry $4 million should have cost just $2 million."
Mistake: Hinn was quoted as having further said: "We have made a mistake, which I will never allow again. We will never make this kind of mistake again. We made the mistake because I was misinformed." His annoyance stemmed from the fact that the local organising committee had given him the impression that the event was going to attract a daily attendance of over six million persons and 18 million on the whole at the end of the exercise. The three-day event was said to have attracted far less than that, a situation some members blamed on the fuel crisis in Lagos at the time and poor publicity about the crusade itself.
The second thing that caught the fancy of PFN national executive was the allegation by members of the Local Organising Committee that the impression they had from the outset was that the crusade was self-financing without any assistance from Benny Hinn Ministry (BHM). To them, they were made to understand that they were doing a patriotic duty to help heal a sick nation.
Hinn's allegation on the altar penultimate Saturday that his ministry actually committed $4 million to the project and that he allegedly released $1 million to the national co-ordinator of the crusade, Bishop Olanrewaju Obembe, was a surprise to some committee leaders and members who claimed to have been starved of funds throughout the exercise.
According to sources close to the Central Working Committee, CWC, it was based on the claim that the crusade was actually a self-sponsoring project that they went ahead to raise funds locally and they got about N30 million. The CWC levied N1,000 per head for the Ministers' Conference built into the crusade and even attempted to charge same for the accreditation of journalists to cover the occasion.
Read the rest at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200505170434.html
May 15, 2005
Posted to the web May 17, 2005
Sam Eyoboka
Benny Hinn's $1m tears top pastors apart
PFN raises probe panel
WHEN Charismatic Warri-based preacher, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, took over the leadership of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, as national president in February after its eighth biennial conference, he made a pledge to sanitize the fellowship and rid it of evil-minded charlatans. He convened the first executive council meeting of the body in April. After the meeting, he addressed newsmen during which he reiterated his desire to flush out all elements capable of bringing the reputation of pentecostalism in Nigeria to disrepute.
That was before the so much talked about Benny Hinn Healing Crusade that took place at the Redemption Camp on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from April 29 to May 1.
The aftermath of that spiritual exercise has now presented the acid test of Oritsejafor's exccutive council as the leadership of the PFN, comprising eminent men of God, including Dr. Wilson Badejo of the Foursquare Gospel Church as vice president and Bishop Joseph Ojo of Calvary Kingdom Church as the national general secretary, has on its hands a case that might attract the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Claims and counter-claims of financial impropriety concerning the crusade were flagged off by the American evangelist, Benny Hinn, who voiced his anger by alleging that his ministry spent $4 million on a crusade that could have been conducted with less than $2 million.
Attendance in crusade
He was said to have left the country in anger last Sunday night instead of last Monday morning he was scheduled to leave, saying, "I am not happy at all. We expected a larger crowd here because we were told that we would have millions of people in attendance in this crusade. This crusade that cost our ministry $4 million should have cost just $2 million."
Mistake: Hinn was quoted as having further said: "We have made a mistake, which I will never allow again. We will never make this kind of mistake again. We made the mistake because I was misinformed." His annoyance stemmed from the fact that the local organising committee had given him the impression that the event was going to attract a daily attendance of over six million persons and 18 million on the whole at the end of the exercise. The three-day event was said to have attracted far less than that, a situation some members blamed on the fuel crisis in Lagos at the time and poor publicity about the crusade itself.
The second thing that caught the fancy of PFN national executive was the allegation by members of the Local Organising Committee that the impression they had from the outset was that the crusade was self-financing without any assistance from Benny Hinn Ministry (BHM). To them, they were made to understand that they were doing a patriotic duty to help heal a sick nation.
Hinn's allegation on the altar penultimate Saturday that his ministry actually committed $4 million to the project and that he allegedly released $1 million to the national co-ordinator of the crusade, Bishop Olanrewaju Obembe, was a surprise to some committee leaders and members who claimed to have been starved of funds throughout the exercise.
According to sources close to the Central Working Committee, CWC, it was based on the claim that the crusade was actually a self-sponsoring project that they went ahead to raise funds locally and they got about N30 million. The CWC levied N1,000 per head for the Ministers' Conference built into the crusade and even attempted to charge same for the accreditation of journalists to cover the occasion.
Read the rest at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200505170434.html
