Oladele Ayoola, a prophet at a Celestial Church of Christ in Oke-Ira,
Ogba, Lagos State, has denied the allegation that he collected about
N75m, three houses and two vehicles to heal a businesswoman of fibroids.
The 45-year-old prophet said rather, he assisted the woman to cure “a
strange ailment, which almost forced her to commit suicide,” adding that
she gave him about N25m in tranches as gifts.
He stated that he used the money to build a four bed-roomed duplex in
Ijoko, Ogun State, and admitted that the woman also bought a Toyota
Highlander worth N6m for him.
The prophet denied that the woman built two houses for him in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, and bought a Lexus for him.
It had been reported that the woman had approached Ayoola sometime in
2007 through a neighbour to seek spiritual solutions to her fibroids
after a doctor reportedly told her that her womb had to be removed to
cure the ailment, which made blood flowed from her private parts for 14
years.
The prophet was said to have given her some concoctions and charged
N98,000 for the treatment. The flow was said to have stopped after
taking the herbs, but returned two weeks later.
He allegedly told the woman that her husband was behind her ordeal and
advised her to bring her three children for spiritual cleansing because
the husband wanted to use them for ritual.
He was said to have subsequently hypnotised the woman and asked her to
build a duplex for him in Ijoko, as well as two five-bedroomed bungalows
in Ado Ekiti.
However, it reportedly dawned on one of the woman’s children, a lawyer,
sometime in March 2017 that the family was being duped after the prophet
allegedly collected millions of naira from her for spiritual help.
The case was reported to the police at the Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, leading to the prophet’s arrest.
In a chat with our correspondent, Ayoola, who is on police bail, refuted
the fraud allegation against him, saying the woman gave him money to
build the house to appreciate the healing.
He said, “One Iya Ibeji introduced her to me. The woman didn’t tell me
she was suffering from fibroids. It was a strange ailment. She was
bleeding from the private parts every day and was very lean. She said
she was fed up and wanted to commit suicide. I told her I would treat
her if she could pay N98,000 and she agreed.
“Within two weeks, the
blood stopped and she had a permanent healing. At a point, we became
family friends. She gave me money to build a duplex in Ijoko after God
used me to answer her prayers. She initially sent about N22m into my UBA
account to build the house. About N3m was later sent to my Union Bank
account. I would not reject gifts from somebody that God used me to
heal. I also assisted her family members whenever they had any problem.”
The prophet explained that the woman bought the Toyota Highlander for
him when he was to be made a chief in Ado Ekiti. He said his
relationship with the family began to turn sour in 2014 when the woman’s
husband asked him to steer clear of the family.
“But she was not the one who built the two houses in Ado Ekiti for me.
There are several persons God is using me for. In 2014, her husband told
me to leave the family alone, but the woman begged me not to. She
bought the Toyota Highlander for me for N6m.
“I was surprised when
some policemen from SFU came to arrest me in Ekiti. I was detained in
their office for 16 days and the Highlander was seized. I didn’t collect
anything from the lawyer as claimed and didn’t hypnotise anybody,” he
added.
Ayoola said he was ready to forfeit the house in Ijoko and the Highlander, which was in police custody.