MICHAEL AKINOLA
Prophetess Ngozi Okoye of the Greater Glory Tabernacle Church, located at No. 26 Afurugbin off Ijegemo Road, Ijegun Lagos, has been sent to prison for allegedly selling a N20m property belonging to her church member, Mrs. Buchi Ejiofor, with forged documents while claiming that it was a Divine directive.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the property in question is located at Jesutedo Street off Community Road, Ijegun area of Lagos, which was entrusted to her as a Minister of God.
She was arraigned before the Ebute Metta Magistrates Court for conspiracy and fraud over her conduct with others at large including her husband, Pastor Cosmos Okoye.
She pleaded not guilty before Court.
The prosecutor, Supol Jimoh Joseph, then asked the Court to give a date for hearing since she pleaded not guilty to enable the Police to prove that she actually committed the alleged offence.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs A.A. Oshoniyi, granted her bail in the sum of N500,000 each with two sureties in like sum, who must show evidence of means of livelihood and tax payment.
The matter was adjourned till 26th January, 2023, while she was remanded in custody at the Correctional Centre at Kirikiri town, Lagos, pending when she will perfect her bail conditions.
Prophetess Ngozi Okoye’s arraignment followed a petition written by a couple, Mrs. Buchi Ejiofor and her husband, Tony, to the AIG Zone 2, Onikan, over their property, which was bought for N6.5m some years ago and entrusted to her as their spiritual director before she conspired with her husband, Pastor Cosmos and sold it.
According to Mrs. Buchi when they discovered that Prophetess Ngozi and her husband, Cosmos, had sold their property, there were plans to eliminate them in order to cover up the dastardly act while the couple stopped attending their church and fled.
Prophetess Ngozi and her husband perfected their alleged evil plan by deliberate seizure of the original Deed of the Agreement, which they used to purchase the land, whereas the couple had the photocopy of the agreement.
Meanwhile, Prophetess Ngozi had been collecting the arrears of rent from the property but did not remit the money to the couple before they visited the place and discovered that Ngozi and her husband had carted away the GeePee storage tank in the compound, which gave suspicion that something was fishing.
When they confronted Prophetess Ngozi, she then informed them that they had sold the property according to divine direction and used the money for an undisclosed business.
The matter was initially reported to the Igbo traditional ruler a.k.a Ezendigbo in Ijegun and Ijedodo kingdoms, Eze Chika Nwokedi, who intervened in order to resolve the matter by directing Ngozi and her husband, Pastor Cosmos, to return the property to the couple but they refused and threatened to deal with them. That led to the petition to the AIG, who did diligent investigation and found Ngozi culpable before she was taken to Court for prosecution.
Meanwhile, her husband, Cosmos, was said to be at large as Police were said to be making efforts to arrest him too for prosecution.