Winners Chapel Members Beat TV Crew in Ota Members of the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel yesterday once again visited violence on another set of officials of Ogun State Government as they assaulted a reporter and cameraman of the state television station, OGTV. On Thursday afternoon, security personnel of the Kingdom Heritage Nursery and Primary School, a commercial venture located within the complex of Winners Chapel had violently assaulted tax officials and damaged assets of the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS). The reporter, Peter Falomo, and his cameraman, Lekan Egunjobi, were severely beaten and their camera was damaged when they went to the Ota premises of the church to cover the service of building inspection notices by officials of the Ministry Of Urban and Physical Planning. The video camera of the TV crew was forcibly seized and damaged in the process. The camera was only released after the recording had been wiped off. Apart from the TV crew, two officials of the Ministry were also injured by the irate church members who prevented the team from entering the premises. The assault was witnessed by the Head Pastor of the Church, Bishop Timothy Oyedepo who equally was visibly angry by the decision of the officials to attempt to carry out their statutory duties in his church premises. At a point, the Bishop was saying unprintable things while querying the audacity of the state officials to attempt to regulate building of structures for commercial purposes in his church premises. The officials of the Ministry of Urban and Physical Planning who were accompanied by policemen had, following the previous day similar assault of their counterparts in the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS), earlier made a report of their planned visit to the Winners Chapel premises at the Divisional Police Station, Onipanu - Ota. The OGTV reporter, his cameraman and other officials who were wounded were treated at the General Hospital, Ota, and subsequently discharged. The matter has also been reported to the police. Commenting on the development, the General Manager in the Ogun State Urban and Physical Planning Board, Mr Stephen Adewolu who was part of the team that was molested in Ota expressed shock at the lawlessness displayed by the Winners Chapel members and their leaders. "No organisation can carry on as if it is above the law. We have information that the people in that church are just building structures indiscriminately without building approval, without necessary environmental impact assessment reports and they are violating planning laws and regulations. We only went there to serve statutory notices on the on-going building development and they are behaving as if the premises of the church is not covered by the laws of the state in which it is located", he said. The incident led to the hospitalisation of one of the officials while others sustained minor injuries. The state government has directed its Ministry of Justice to study the facts on the two incidents with a view to taking appropriate legal measures. Also, officials of the Winners Chapel had shunned meetings of the Stakeholders Forum established by the state government for representatives of organisations located in the state to deliberate with the government on issues of common interest, particularly compliance with extant laws on physical planning and taxation. The government reiterates its commitment to its philosophy of one law for everyone in the state and that any harassment or intimidation of its officials and agents in the course of discharging their statutory duties will be seriously viewed. Signed Yusuph Olaniyonu Hon. Commissioner for Information and Strategy
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 17:49:51 +0000
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