By Bayo Bernard
Apostle Johnson Suleiman, the General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministry, has stirred the hornets’ again despite many controversies trailing him as one of Nigeria’s popular Pentecostal Pastors.
Barely one month after a Pastor in his Church accused him of sleeping with his wife, the Auchi, Edo state born Clergyman put himself into trouble with many Nigerians, after boasting that he acquired another private jet despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Suleiman had, while preaching in his Church, three weeks ago, revealed that “In Covid I bought my third jet,” a statement considered by many Nigerians to be insensitive to the general mood in the country where poverty is very common. To make things worse, Suleiman said he would make more money if the pandemic persisted.
The deadly virus has killed many people, and still counting as the government struggles to contain the pandemic.
The source of wealth of Suleiman, who was once an Assistant Pastor in the Armor of God Church in Lagos, before he established his own Church in 2004, is still unknown. But a popular magazine recently classified him among the richest Nigerian Pastors with net worth estimated to be over $10 million.
Apart from being a Pastor, Suleiman is said to have made huge fortunes from oil and gas, estate management and stocks. The magazine cannot independently verify these claims.
Responding to Suleiman’s boast, a Nigerian lawyer residing in Japan, Barrister Emeka Akaolisa, blasted him for living in opulence in the midst of poverty in the country, adding that Auchi, his hometown, is one of the poorest places in Nigeria. He said Suleiman is one of the Pastors deceiving the members of the Church when truly they don’t care about their welfare.
Akolisa said, ”My dear Pastor Suleman, you bought first jet, second jet and then the third jet during Coronavirus, when people are dying.Pastor Suleman, you have three private jets while Auchi is one of the dirtiest places in the world while Nigeria is one of the poorest places in the world and you have mind to buy the first jet, second jet and the third jet during Coronavirus pandemic when people are dying.
“What is wrong with Nigerians? When will our mumu do? I am asking this question? These men are just deceiving people. If you talk to a Japanese man about Heaven he will ask you what is heaven? Because these people understood the truth while we are brainwashing our people that they are going to heaven to enjoy what they can enjoy here, that is the most wicked thing I have ever seen.
“During Coronavirus when people are dying, no food. I and my family had to send the money that the government of this country gave us, to my village to buy palliatives for them and to buy medicine and you used your own money to buy private jet. Pastor Suleman, shame onto you!”
A few days ago, at once, ashamed and embarrassed of himself and utterances, following angry reactions from members of the public, he apologised. He said he mis-spoke on Coronavirus, and admitted his choice of words were inappropriate. He said what he said was not what he meant; that he meant to say that the virus brought families together.
However, he was not apologetic over buying a third jet during the lockdown. “On that, I have no regrets”, he said. A couple of days later, though, he went on a charm offensive, handing over envelopes of money to a number of youths in Warri. Not many people were impressed.
His image has, recently, been on what a member of his Church, who pleaded anonymity, described as “self-inflicted free-fall”
In January, Suleiman was enmeshed in a controversy after Mike David, a former Pastor of his Church, took him to the cleaners, accusing him of having an amorous relationship with his wife of many years. The infidelity allegation against Suleiman includes that he slept with Pastor David’s wife, Ruth, in a hotel room in the presence of her baby.
The matter has become so messy that many are still wondering whether the ‘private jet boast’ by Suleiman was intended to slow down the public angst that has greeted the marriage scandal.
Davids who parted ways with Suleiman in 2019 after their relationship broke down, said his former employer has been threatening him since he revealed the love affair between the latter and his wife.
He did not only accuse Suleiman of breaking his marriage, he said the General Overseer has rented an apartment for Mrs Davids in Abuja where she now lives with their three children and has prevented him from gaining access to his kids.
The estranged Pastor said: “Apostle Suleman has damaged my life. I have not seen my wife and children for two years, and Apostle Suleman says if I ever go near them, he will have me taken out. I have a video where he said he will make me disappear. I don’t want to lose my life.”
David’s wife has, however, dismissed her husband’s allegation, accusing him of abandoning the marriage; a situation she said made her suicidal. She accused her husband of deliberately trying to destroy the reputation of the Clergy man.
On his part, Apostle Suleiman dismissed the allegation saying his estranged Pastor is a drowning man; that he never had any love affair with his wife and had never slept with her.
The matter took a dangerous dimension after the angry Davids petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to investigate Pastor Suleiman for adultery. The IGP has since directed that the matter be thoroughly investigated so as to get to the root of it.
The IGP’s order was sequel to a petition written by V.C Ezenagu & Associates on behalf of Pastor Davids who accused Apostle Suleman of threat to life and preventing him from seeing his three children.
In a letter titled, ‘Re: Criminal Petition Against Apostle Johnson Suleman for Enticement of a Married Woman; Adultery; Unlawful Criminal Restraint to Access Children and Threat to Life’, the IGP said “I attach herewith a copy of a letter dated December 30, 2020 with its attachments received from V.C Ezenagu & Associates on the above underlined subject. The Inspector-General of Police directs that you treat. Accept the assurances of my esteemed regards please.”
According to the petition to the police boss, Davids said he met Apostle Suleman in 2003 while he was in school, after which they became very close and he was eventually ordained a Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries on June 9, 2006 by Apostle Suleman and served the Church for over 15 years before his exit in 2019. He attached his pastoral certificate with licence number 125 to the petition.
Davids said he introduced his wife-who was his fiancée at the time, to Apostle Suleman, whom he regarded as his spiritual father in 2008, and she told him that Suleman had been making advances at her and once invited her to Reliance Hotel, Benin, but he never regarded it as anything serious.
The angry Pastor said his marriage started crumbling when he was posted to Osun State in 2010, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Michelle, in November 2009.
Davids said, “My wife was a staffer with NTA Iruekpen, so Apostle Suleman reached out to her that they will need her to build Celebration TV and Rhema for Living. She would have to shuttle between Osun State and Auchi.
“She came back from Auchi to Osun State and said she wanted to talk to me, that her conscience was pricking her. I asked what it was, and she said that while in Auchi, Apostle Suleman lodged her at Uyi Grand Hotel and he came there and slept with her.
“And the moment she said that, the first thing that came to my mind was my daughter. I asked where was Michelle when this happened and she said Michelle was on the bed, pushed aside and I asked, ‘You mean you slept with a man with my daughter on the bed?’.
“I had to let it go because there was nobody I could tell and I couldn’t fight with Apostle Suleman. I forgave her but the amorous relationship continued. One thing I know is that my wife was hypnotised. This is not the woman I got married to, who I knew for 11 years,” Davids said.
But in a post Monday, January 25, 2021, Suleiman denied the allegation, noting that the report that he’s being investigated by the Police was a joke. Suleiman said “IGP orders probe on me? Where, when? Maybe my ghost. Just reading stories now. Please discard. There is no such thing. Bad press really sells fast.”
This has not deterred the angry pastor who seems poised to fight his former boss with everything he has. Davids has now petitioned the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC to sack Suleiman as the Chief Executive Officer of Omega Fire Ministry for ruining his marriage and corrupting the Church.
In a letter dated February 12 and titled “Petition for the immediate investigation and removal of Apostle Johnson Suleman, a trustee of Incorporated Trustee Of Omega Fire Ministry and for closure of Church and appointment of interim managers to manage the affairs of Church,” Davids said Suleiman should be removed as the General Overseer of the church, because he has lost all moral justifications to remain in the position.
Detailing his allegations to include the adulterous relationship Suleiman is having with his wife, misappropriation of Church funds and others, Davids urged the CAC to “cause an immediate Investigation and Removal and/or Suspension of Apostle Johnson Suleman (Trustee) Of Incorporated Trustee Of Omega Fire Ministry It/No: 21739.”
He said the Commission should “cause an immediate investigation into the improper use of church funds in Omega Fire Ministries with a view to ascertaining deep rooted financial rascality by the very persons who are supposed to be managers of God’s money,” asking the Commission to ensure the “closure of the Church and/or appointment of interim managers to manage the affairs of the Church.”
David’s Unearths Otobo’s Scandal
Pastor Davids has added salt to Suleiman’s injury by, also revealing that the controversial Pastor used his influence and money to cover up another sex scandal with a Nigerian born Canada based Stephanie Otobo. She had, in 2016, accused the Pastor of dumping her after a prolonged love affair that lasted for many years.
That year, Apostle Suleiman became an object of a sex scandal after Otobo also known as Kimora, released a set of damaging snap chat shots on the internet allegedly of herself and the Pastor, whom, she claimed, impregnated and dumped her.
The dancer said Suleiman started an affair with her in 2015 after telling her that he was divorced and wanted more male children. Their affair came to a sour end when Stephanie discovered she was pregnant in September 2016, and informed the Pastor. She said she lost the pregnancy after she was allegedly given a concoction to drink by Suleiman.
To prove her point of the affair she had with Apostle Suleiman, Otobo disclosed her bank account details, where the man of God had allegedly been sending money, even though the Pastor has been denying the affair. As a further proof the dancer also uploaded a video clip online, detailing a series of huge deposits allegedly made by the Cleric into her account.
Otobo initially retracted the allegation, saying some top officials in Government forced her to make the gory allegations against her lover for being critical of the administration of President Muhamamdu Buhari. She later claimed that she was forced to do so.
But speaking on the Otobo saga, Davids said he was part of a team of PR Managers assembled by Suleiman to help him clear the dust raised by the scandal , adding that they bribed Otobo, and some members of her family in Nigeria, including her mother, to prevail on their daughter to eat her words that the Clergy man had anything to do with her.
If Suleiman managed to have his way in the Otobo saga, not so with many Nigerians, including Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, who is now avoiding him like a leper. Adeboye recently refused to attend a Church programme organized by Suleiman.
The magazine learnt that the RCCG Pastor refused to honour the invitation to attend the programme in Benin, even though he had been informed months earlier.
When asked why he failed to show up at the event, a very close associate of Pastor Adeboye said “the respected man of God is not a controversial person and will not want anything to dent his God-given image. We hope the organizers of that programme will understand that Pastor Adeboye is a man loved by many, and as a father, he must take some hard decisions he believes are good for the body of Christ.”
Many Nigerians said they no longer take Suleiman seriously after the scandals involving women. They are demanding accountability from the controversial Pastor, who is also known for his controversial and careless political comments.
Suleiman became a butt of jokes, four years ago after he predicted that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state will die following the passage of a law that Suleiman considered inimical to religious freedom in the state.
Four years later, El Rufai is still alive, and has been taunting Suleiman to tell him the day he will die.
The questions people are asking are: Will Pastor Suleiman ever change? Or will he finally self-destruct?
The ball, as they say, is in his court.
