*Church, CPA to celebrate his birthday tomorrow
*We are not aware of apex court’s judgment – Resident Pastor
*Archbishops Ojo, Osa-Oni, Ajao residents, LASG react
By Sam Eyoboka, Clifford Ndujihe, Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Olayinka
Latona & Anozie Egole
THE Supreme Court, yesterday, gave the General-Overseer of the
Christian Praying Assembly, CPA, Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a.k.a Rev.
King an unpalatable birthday gift: You must die!
The wordings of the Supreme Court ruling were in contrast to the
adoring words Rev King’s faithful used to salute him in tens of paid
newspaper adverts.
In deed, on a day that the apex court okayed death sentence by
hanging for Rev King, members of his church were oblivious of the
judgement and were putting things in shape to celebrate his birthday,
tomorrow.
In a unanimous judgement, yesterday, a five-man panel of Justices of
the apex court led by Justice Walter Onnoghen, upheld the death
sentence that was earlier handed to Ezeugo by the Lagos State High
Court and Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court, in its lead verdict delivered by Justice Sylvester
Ngwuta, dismissed the appeal the convicted clergy lodged before it.
Justice Ngwuta, who noted that “the facts of the case could have been
lifted from a horror film”, resolved all the 12 issues Ezeugo raised in
his appeal.
“This appeal has no merit. The judgement of the court of appeal is
hereby affirmed. The prison sentence that was earlier handed to the
appellant is no longer relevant in view of the death sentence passed on
him”, Justice Ngwuta held.
Church, CPA to celebrate his birthday tomorrow
The atmosphere at 1 CPA Base, off Bishop Ojo Avenue, Ajao Estate,
Lagos premises of the church was normal, yesterday, a few hours
after the deadly verdict. Nothing seemed to be amiss as the area was
having its normal evening look with passers-by going about their
normal activities. The mien of the members and passers-by did not
indicate that the founder of the prayer ministry had been sentenced to
death by hanging just a few hours ago.
One of the residential pastors, who identified himself as Pastor Ifeanyi,
told Saturday Vanguard: “We are not aware of any Supreme Court
judgement. He is our founder and father in the Lord. Besides the
church is organizing his birthday service on Sunday (tomorrow).
The church even held an all night programme on Thursday, as you
can see we have been on with our normal worship services.”
Some residents, who pleaded anonymity hailed the verdict and urged
the Federal Government to carry out the Supreme Court judgement,
saying that whosoever that kills should also be killed.
“We are even surprised that the man has not been executed all these
years. Men, who are servant of the devil but pretend to be men of God
will learn lessons from Rev. King. Probably the population of the
church members will now reduce if they get to know about the court
judgement,” one of the residents said.
LASG hails judgement
The apex court’s ruling, yesterday, elicited reactions from some
religious leaders and the the Lagos State Government, which hailed
the verdict.
Reacting to the judgement, the Lagos State Government, through the
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem,
said the ruling was another confirmation of the seriousness of
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration to be decisive in
fighting crime in the state.
The Commissioner said: “This is just another confirmation that the
government of his Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is going
to be very strong on fighting crime. Wherever a crime is committed,
no matter how long it takes, the government of Lagos State will ensure
that the perpetrators of those crimes face justice eventually.
“I salute the institution called the Supreme Court for this erudite
judgement and I want to assure the public that we will continue and
we will not relent in our fight to make Lagos a safer, secure and more
prosperous state.”
Archbishops Ojo, Osa-Oni speak
Former National Secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN,
Archbishop Joseph Imariabhe Ojo, said the ruling was a right step in
the right direction because there is no doubt that Rev King did what he
was accused of.
Rev. King’s church, Christian Praying Assembly is situated on Bishop
Ojo’s Avenue in Ajao Estate and by implication the former PFN scribe
can be described as their landlord and may have been in close contact
with the leadership of the church while he was leaving there.
“There is a law that says what you sow, you will reap. It’s only a
matter of time. If the Supreme Court failed to confirm the lower
courts’ verdict, if he comes back, he would only come back to do
worse things because as the Bible says, seven more deadly spirits
would join him to come back to do much more deadly things. May the
Lord have mercy on his soul,” he prayed.
Asked why more and more charlatans spring up in every nook and
cranny of the nation, the archbishop who now oversees his Calvary
Kingdom Church along Lagos-Badagry Expressway in Lagos blamed
the phenomenon of fake prophets on the growing rate of
unemployment as a result of poor economy.
“There are many men doing worst things than Rev. King in this
country and it appears there is not much we can do to arrest the
development. I have said it before and I can repeat it over and over
again, the economy is contributing as many people are jobless and
want to do anything to earn a living. Pastoral work is extremely
difficult. If there were jobs there are many people who are not called
who would not dare to go into ministry.
“It is because they have nothing to fall back to, that is why you see all
these things here and there. When the economy was good you don’t
find all manner of charlatans who should be doing other things; they
are educated but frustrated as they cannot get gainfully employed
jobs; so they do all manner of manipulations to attract people to their
church. You often hear things like ‘It’s happening there’. What is
happening? Manipulations! Occultism! They claim somebody died and
resurrected; is that the end of the gospel?
‘’They can’t preach because they are not trained to preach; so they
resort to all kinds of manipulations to attract people. We are just
praying for the economy to improve to have a true and Godly change
so that all the charlatans will be gainfully employed in their areas of
strength and not to give a wrong impression of the Kingdom of God, ‘’
Archbishop Ojo argued.
Also responding in a telephone discussion, Archbishop John Osa-Oni,
the General Overseer of Vineyard Christian Centre also in Ajao Estate,
also hailed the Supreme Court Judgement, saying that the apex court
has amply demonstrated that there is hope for the common man in
this country because the relatives of the victims of the church leader’s
cruelty will be vindicated.
The archbishop added that only such judicial pronouncements can
mitigated the suffering of thousands of gullible Nigerians who are
easily swayed by any wind of doctrine, also arguing that the
missionary work have suddenly become an all-comers game that
every Tom, Dick and Harry jump into to make ends meet.
Osa-Oni, however, hoped that the execution of the verdict will not be
left to the vagaries of political considerations that will open windows
for Rev. King to get an ‘arranged’ parole which will put the lives of
victims’ relations in danger.
According to him, it took about 10 years for the judicial process to be
concluded, the spirit of the deceased will be assuaged if the execution
is carried out speedily and their relatives would be able to go about
their legitimate businesses peacefully.
Additionally, other people with such tendencies who abound all over
the nation today would also learn a lesson or two and know that it
cannot be business as usual in the country, where they had operated
with such impunity as though there are no laws in the land.’’
How the death journey began
Ezeugo was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging on January
11, 2007, for the alleged murder of his church member, Ann Uzoh.
He was arraigned on September 26, 2006 on a six-count charge of
attempted murder and murder.
The charge against him was at the instance of the Lagos State
Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
During the trial, the prosecution had argued that the convict poured
petrol on the deceased, Uzor and five others. Uzoh died on August 2,
2006, exactly 11 days after the incident.
In her judgement, trial Justice Joseph Oyewole who is now a Justice
of the Court of Appeal at Calabar, said there was sufficient evidence
linking the accused person to the commission of the crime.
Consequently, Justice Oyewole convicted and sentenced Ezeugo to 20
years imprisonment for the attempted murder and death by hanging
for the offence of murder.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, Ezeugo took the case before the
Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal. in his notice of appeal dated
January 16, 2007, he prayed the appellate court to set aside the
judgement.
Aside 16 grounds of appeal he raised through his lawyer, Mr. Olalekan
Ojo, he was subsequently granted leave to argue additional 16
grounds based on an amended notice of appeal he filed on June 15,
2008.
Ojo argued that his client did not commit the crime and was not at
the scene of the incident.
He insisted that the deceased, Uzoh, had in two statements she made
after the incident and before her death, stated that she got burnt in a
generator accident and that the cleric was not responsible for her
injuries.
Ojo said the Investigating Police Officer, IPO, had tendered statements
which stated that Ezeugo was not responsible for the burns that led to
Uzoh’s death.
He alleged that the trial Judge refused to admit in evidence, the
statements he said exonerated Ezeugo of the crime, adding that
Justice Oyewole’s refusal to admit the exhibits in evidence
“occasioned a great miscarriage of justice” against his client.
Appeal court concur
After due consideration of the case, a three-man panel of justices of
the appellate court, in a lead judgement that was delivered by Justice
Fatimo Akinbami, dismissed Ezeugo’s appeal and upheld the high
court’s verdict.
The other members of the appellate court panel, who concurred with
the lower court’s verdict were Justices Amina Augie and Ibrahim
Saulawa.
Determined to save his life, Rev Ezeugo lodged an appeal before the
Supreme Court.
His appeal was challenged by the Lagos state government, which
through its Attorney General, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem and Director of
Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Idowu Alakija, urged the apex court to
dismiss it and uphold the concurrent verdicts of the two lower courts.
Reverend King reigned horror on his church members, decapitating
and dehumanising them in the course of his practice that was
adjudged barbaric. There were also sex ordeals in his church as he
abused both married and single women while claiming to be working
for God.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
