Bishop Grabs 4 Jets

Bishop Grabs 4 Jets

 

Bishop David Oyedepo cruising in one of his latest jet 

NOT MANY businessmen at age 60 can boast of owning a private jet but 57-year-old Bishop David Oyedepo, Chief Executive of Living Faith Church World Wide, also known as Winners Chapel, is the proud owner of four state-of-the-art private jets.

His latest addition was a Gulfstream V which he personally announced the purchase to his church members and added that his new jet would need to be housed in a $30 million private hanger.

Reports say the new hanger can be compared to the most expensive hangers in Europe and United States and it is currently being built for his jets, near the international wing of Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria.

Before the purchase of the Gulfstream V, Oyedepo already had a Gulfstream 1 which he acquired in 1996, a Gulfstream 4 and a Challenger Aircraft.

The Guinness Book of Records places Bishop Oyedepo’s 50,000-seater church auditorium as the largest church auditorium in the world and his website says they hold four services on Sundays, with each service filled to capacity.

Forbes International recently ranked him as the richest pastor in Nigeria, with an estimated cool $150 million relaxing in his private accounts. He has a publishing company, a private university, an elite private school and homes in London and the United States.

The Nigerian preacher also owns a network of churches in over 300 cities in all states of Nigeria, as well as in over 63 cities in 32 African countries, Dubai, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Though not proved beyond doubt, reports say Oyedepo exploits his congregation and that has been his largest source of income.

GHANA BRANCH
Bishop George Agyeman used to be the Ghanaian branch pastor of Oyedepo’s church. About three years ago, he broke away from Winners Chapel International, the mother church, and formed Winners Chapel Ghana.

The break was reportedly propelled by alleged financial scandals on the part of Oyedepo’s church. There were also reports of how the weekly offertory was changed into huge wads of foreign currency, hidden in car tires and smuggled to Nigeria.

Bishop Agyeman also revealed that before the break, the Ghana branch had been paying $100,000 a month to the mother church in Nigeria, a development which sparked a national debate on whether churches should pay taxes since they could contribute so much for a mother church outside the country.

Bishop Agyeman and fifteen other church elders were subsequently sued by the Winners Chapel International, for occupying the church building after they broke away.

BREAKAWAY IN NIGERIA
A Nigerain based newspaper, Saturday Tribune, reported in 2007 that four bishops and 15 pastors resigned from Oyedepo’s church, following a reorganization he carried out. This resignation, the paper reports, caused ripples in the church, particularly among its leadership.

Among the first set of Bishops that resigned their appointment were Bolu Martins, supervising the Ibadan branch; Thomas Aremu in charge of Kaduna; and one Pastor Olorunda who was posted to Warri but got transferred to Ibadan following the reorganization.

Saturday Tribune gathered that the bishops and pastors who resigned did so following the decision to zone the activities of the church with effect from this year.

Before the decision was taken last year, the church operated on state level, with the state branches being supervised by bishops and pastors.

Though, most of the bishops were reported to have resigned on the grounds that they got the divine call to start their own ministries, sources said it was their own way of protesting the reorganization that would see them carrying out mainly administrative instead of ministering functions.