Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), General Overseer, Daniel Olukoya and some of his pastors are now fighting a bitter war over properties and money. The church has dragged some former pastors and members to court over monetary and property disputes in the United States of America.MFM has filed a case in the Circuit Court for Prince Georges’ County of Maryland, U.S.A., (Case No. CAL16-26532) on behalf of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries International, Lagos, and Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, USA, Nevada.
MFM is seeking declaratory judgment and damages against Pastors Lawrence Adetunji, Ronke Adetunji, and 11 former members of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Bowie, Maryland. The sued pastors and members have changed MFM Bowie to Christ the Truth Ministry.
MFM is fighting the pastors over properties located at 5506 and 5503 Church Road in Bowie, Maryland, which were acquired by MFM Bowie in 2001 and 2004. Besides, in contention are funds for the MFM building in Bowie.MFM International (Lagos) claims that the property acquired with the contributions and offerings of the members of MFM in Bowie, without assistance of any form from Mr. Olukoya or MFM headquarters, are property of MFM headquarters by way of trust. MFM claimed further that when Pastor Adetunji and most members of MFM in Bowie decided not to associate further with the denomination, Pastor Adetunji was under an obligation to hand over the properties and funds to MFM headquarters, Lagos, NigeriaThe pastors revealed that they decided to sever their relationship with MFM and its leadership because of the illegal and fraudulent activities of MFM International, Lagos. They allege that MFM International was in the practice of knowingly and deliberately making false claims to evade U.S. Customs duties and taxes on books exported from Nigeria to U.S.
Also, the pastors alleged that MFM International, Lagos had willfully and intentionally evaded U.S. Customs Service duties and had evaded tax payments to the United States Government. They allege that MFM, Lagos carried out these illegal activities for many years.
The pastors disclosed that MFM, Lagos would ship prayer books (specifically, “70 Days Prayer & Fasting” and “Pray Your Way Into current year” to various U.S.-based MFM branches with a cover letter categorizing the books as “donations” to be distributed to local parishioners. However, once delivered to the United States, instructions were then emailed to pastors in the US by MFM International, Lagos instructing them of the price they must charge members in selling these books. The pastors were then instructed to remit the money of the sales to MFM International, Lagos.The pastors disclosed that, although this practice had been going on for many years, on or about 2013, MFM International started shipping their books directly to U.S. Customs in Baltimore, along with the cover letter stating that the books were “donations”
The pastors asserted that they were not aware of the illegal practice until 2015. They stated further that, when they became aware, having no power over MFM and its leadership “to influence or change their behavior had decided to sever all ties in order to curtail their unwitting participation in MFM International, Lagos illegal actions.
The pastors also argued that MFM International could not lay claim to the property because they contributed nothing towards the acquisition of the property, not even when the defendants requested for assistance by way of a loan to meet some of their financial obligations. They declared that no valid trust was created over their property for the benefit of MFM International.The case comes up for hearing on October 14, 2017. Some Officers of MFM International, including the General Overseer, Daniel Olukoya are expected to get into the witness box at the hearing.
Besides, MFM International equally brought a similar action before the Superior Court of Los Angeles, California, against Pastor Ade Oyeyemi, a former MFM pastor in Los Angeles County Super. Ct.No. BC 352398). The Fourth Division of the Second Appellate District of the California State Court of Appeal ultimately decided the case in favour of Pastor Oyeyemi.
No comments:
Post a Comment