Alleged forceful acquisition of Agbodi village land: Our story, by Deeper Life Church

For some weeks now, the Sofidiya family of Agbodi village at Mowe in Obafemi Owode Local Government area of Ogun State has been at loggerheads with the Deeper Christian Life Ministry over some parcels of land said to run into several acres. It is such a hotly-contested issue that it has led to the shooting of a member of Sofidiya family, Sadiq Olopade, who is now recuperating in hospital.
In fact, the lawyer representing the family in the land case, Mr. Shem Popoola of Tunde Popoola & Associates, has lodged a formal complaint with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), at Ibafo, also in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state.
In the heat of it all, there have been accusations, denials and counter-accusations. While the family is accusing Deeper Life of forceful and fraudulent acquisition of the disputed land, the church argues that the land was legally purchased from their forefathers, after which a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) worth N750 million was paid to Ogun State government over the land.
Miffed by Deeper Life’s claims, Popoola challenged the church to show the world the family receipt on which it paid for the land.
“Which land is the Deeper Christian Life Ministry talking about in which they claimed in a newspaper that they had paid N750 million to the Ogun State Government?” he asked. “It is a different land which they paid N10 million for about six years ago as Owo Ilagbe (money for mapping), out of the N50 million agreed upon by both parties. The land the Deeper Life Christian Ministry is forcibly taking over from the family is not the same land on which the ministry has its Conference Centre (Camp) as it claims.”
Briefing the press, the Baale (traditional ruler) of Agbodi, Chief Taiwo Ogunkayode, said that there was never a time the church came to the family to negotiate for the actual purchase of the land. These were the allegations that Expdonaloaded blog took to the church and Pastor Alfred Ogene, as well as Mr. Ark-Stewart Itua and Mr. Tairu Nojimi, both lawyers, all of the church’s Land and Building Committee, were asked to speak on the matter.
Reacting to Popoola’s claim that “the land that the Deeper Life Christian Ministry is forcibly taking over from the family is not the same land on which the ministry has its Conference Centre,” Pastor Ogene insisted: “The church duly acquired DLCC in two parts (Parcel A and B) as Part 1 and Parcel C as Part 2 several years ago from different families including Esuruosho, Ogunkayode, Oyebi, Shobowale (Shodiya) which is located near Agbodi Village, Ogun State, by paying them hundreds of millions in naira while also it re-acquired the same lands from Ogun State Government by paying all necessary dues (worth) N750,000,000.00. All these statements are verifiable with valid documents to show for the transactions. As a matter of principle and policy, Deeper Life Bible Church can never acquire any man’s property without due consideration. Therefore, it is not in our character as a holiness-preaching church. We follow peace with all men.”
Asked to show the receipts as Barrister Popoola had demanded, he said they were intact and would be brought out at the appropriate time and in the appropriate place, disclosing that the issue was already a court case.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com
Sources close to the church added that video recordings of some aspects of the transaction also exist, informing that the church plans to use such as evidence when the case comes up for a hearing in court.
On the issue of payment of N10m instead of the agreed N50m for the so-called Owo Ilagbe, Itua wondered why the contending party should be talking about Owo Ilagbe if a purchase deal had not been previously sealed as the church had maintained. He added: “For the purpose of record, it should be noted that some of the families from whom the church purchased parts of the land had in the past attempted to play fraud on the church in respect of the land, and even went ahead to sue the church at the High Court. However, the court saw through their fraud and gimmicks and threw out their suits. That is in Suit No: AB/39/2012 and AB/303/2013. Because of incessant acts of trespass on the land, the church was constrained in the year 2008 to institute an action at the High Court of Ogun State, to legally assert its ownership over the land so as to prevent further trespass thereon. It is all contained in the suit no: AB/251/08: THE INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF DEEPER CHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRY VS. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE OGUN STATE & OTHERS. The suit is still pending in court.”
On January 18, 2012 the court granted the application of the church, he said, and issued an injunction restraining all the defendants, their servants, agents and privies from committing any further acts of trespass by entering any part of the land.
“But recently, a new set of descendants of the original landowners from whom the church duly purchased the land, rose up with forceful agitation to ask that the church give back to them a large stretch of the land for village extension purpose; that Deeper Life should pay to them various sums totalling about N150 million as “Owo Iwoko, Owo-Ilagbe” (i.e. payment for bush entry/clearing) and foundation money, and that the church should re-purchase the land at the price of N8 million per plot. The new generation, (locally known as omo-onile), were aided in their act by private militiamen, local warlords and thugs who double as land agents.”
At this juncture, Nojimi said: “It is instructive to note that the aforesaid new descendants and generation of the original vendor families, who are mostly youths, are not per se, denying that their fathers had previously sold the land to the church, neither are they challenging the church’s title or ownership to the same. But their contention is that since they were not of age at the time their fathers and elders sold the land to the church and thus did not have any or enough share of the money paid by the church for the land, now that they are of age, they should be entitled to a fresh round of payment by the church!
“The church, in its signature policy of “follow peace with all men”, embarked on series of complex negotiations with the amorphous new descendants of the original vendor families and in the name of peace, actually made part payment of several millions of naira to appease them and their agents. Yet on March 20, 2015, armed with all manners of lethal weapons and demolition tools, they pulled down a long section of the church’s wall fence, measuring about 1,500 metres and valued at the cost of N25 million. Still toeing the line of peace, the church took its campaign of peaceful resolution of the matter to the police where it lodged a number of petitions to police authorities, including the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Adeniji Adele, Lagos) on the atrocities. However, the police were either helpless or powerless, to deal with the case.
“We decided to give you an insight into what transpired because you bothered to come to hear our side of the story. Otherwise, there have been volumes of misinformation being pushed out there in the public domain on the matter,” Pastor Ogene noted. “Before we knew it, they had gone to television houses and some newspaper houses to accuse and malign the church. I would say here, with due respect to the media estate, when you have issues like this, get across to the other party to get the balanced story. Sensational reporting is not good. We at the church respect the media, but sensational reporting will not help anybody. Let us be balanced in our reporting. If you report a balanced story on any given situation, there will be peace.”