The Christian Praying Assembly to celebrate
Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a.k.a Rev. King 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!
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 charlatan’s
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
economies 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.
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