Two young men have pointed accusatory fingers at the General Overseer
of New Creatures in Christ Mission Pastor Johnson Iteanuoluwa, for
allegedly using them to fake healing miracles for a fee and not paying.
The two young men were spotted recently by a Sun newspaper reporter,
at Mowo bus stop in Igbogbo – Bayeku Local Council Development Area of
Ikorodu, Lagos State, where they had gone in search of the pastor.
Narrating their side of the story, the young men said
“Oga, we don’t know what brought you here at this hour but it
appeared God has destined our path to cross so that the whole world will
know what happened to us. We are even happy when you introduced
yourself as a pressman. This is the fifth time we will be coming here. A
pastor brought us here for a crusade which took place on the open field
of the primary school where we are taking shelter here now. It was
around Easter time and Pastor Johnson promised me the sum of N20,000 at
the end of the crusade. He told me that during the special prayer
session that some people will bring me close to the altar, and that in
the midst of the prayer that I will start mumbling words as if I am
hearing people for the first time. I did exactly as he directed me as I
cooperated with those people that he asked to take me closer to the
altar. He also told me that I should tell the congregation that those
people are my relations. I cooperated and did exactly what he asked me
to do. There was even a rehearsal a day before in one of the houses of
one of those closer to the pastor at a place called Elesin, very close
to Mowo.”
Femi, the older of the two men, however claimed, neither he nor four
other people that gave different fake testimonies that they received
healing during the crusade were given a dime.
“Since March, it has been one story or the other. At a time, the
pastor told me that he couldn’t fulfill his promise because the return
(money) he got at the crusade was below his expectations. However, I
didn’t believe him. There were so many people at the crusade, and you
can imagine the shame I felt inside myself when I have to tell the crowd
that I was born deaf and dumb from my birth. I’ve learnt a bitter
lesson. I have a feeling that we have been used and dumped because the
pastor’s line hardly goes. At times, he used different numbers to call
us that we should come and meet him at Mowo, venue of the crusade, but
he has not turned up for once. As for this other man, you are seeing
with me here, I don’t know him before, I only saw him at the crusade
when he gave testimony that he had been healed of lunacy of 10 years.”
Urging Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, to take steps to rid
the association of bad eggs like Pastor Johnson, “These are the kind of
people giving bad name to Christianity. CAN should impose sanctions on
them. I went in company of this man to CAN’s office in Surulere to meet
with one Baba Atilade whom we were told is the leader of the Christian
body but we were told he had travelled.”
Taken up on why he agreed to Pastor Johnson’s plan, Femi said: “It
was temptation. I don’t have a job. A friend suggested the idea to me,
and I thought that since it wasn’t robbery that I could do it to get
some money. The person who directed me to the pastor, I met him at a
cafeteria when I went to greet my brother who is living at Ladegbuwa
Estate, close to Elesin.
“Actually, the person told me that I should go to the venue of the
crusade adding that the organizers were looking for those that will work
for them during the crusade.”
The other man, Lukman took over the narration saying, “I met an
elderly man at my brother’s place at Ketu, this man who knew I was
looking for a job said I should come to Mowo, that a church conducting a
7 days crusade was looking for workers.
“The man who asked me to go said that when I get to the crusade venue
that I should ask for Pastor Johnson or Baba Jebidan (the pastor’s
alias). I don’t want to talk too much. I need my money. Even my brother
and some relations have gone to a place in Alapere where the pastor
claimed his church is located. He was disowned there, they just told
them that there is an inter-denominational fellowship that used to hold
there once in a month on an open field, but nobody knew him or could
recollect somebody called Pastor Johnson. I have wasted a lot of money
coming to Mowo looking for the pastor who obviously has absconded, I
want God to expose him. There is nothing I can do. I fell into the hands
of 419 people and I’ve learnt my lesson. If I’m gainfully employed, I
would not have been a victim of this devilish pastor.”
When a call was put across to Pastor Johnson, the line went through and
he claimed to be holding a crusade in Akure in Ondo State promising to
reply to the allegations by the two young men against him.
Subsequent efforts to reach him have failed as he has switched off his GSM phone line, the newspaper claimed.