Why Insiders Are Shocked By Outcome Of The 13yrs Court Case That Earned Popular Prophet Israel Oladele “Genesis” 1yr Prison Term

Eniola Ajayi

It is no longer news that a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja yesterday, Wednesday, November 18, 2020, handed a one-year prison sentence to popular prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe.

The ruling is the climax of a 13years case of fraud and related charges against Ogundipe better known by the name of his ministry Genesis.

Mrs Olaide Williams – Oni instituted the case against the prophet who was first arraigned in 2007.

Societynow.ng gathered that when the case broke back then and Ogundipe was paraded by the police a lot of big wigs stepped into the matter.

Insiders claim that big names in the society and some religious leaders who had sympathy for Ogundipe intervened and repotedly brokered a truce of a sort behind the scene.

“The belief was that an agreement was reached between the prophet and the complainant based on the intervention of these people. The story back them was that the money owed was calculated and interests added and everything accrued to N35million or so and Genesis agreed to pay back the funds on installments” societynow.ng.

Societynow.ng gathered that many believed that the case was done with years back based on this narrative.

“So it was a real shock when the story started flying around since yesterday that the prophet has been sent to prison based on a court ruling” societynow.ng learned.

Insiders disclosed that many of the worshippers at the ministry that Ogundipe oversees and the crusades that he organizes remain heartbroken with some of them so shocked that they live in denial that the prison sentence is “fake news”.

“Many are still finding it hard to comprehend what has happened, how things got to the point of a prison sentence against the background of talks of agreement to pay back funds owed with interests factored in” societynow.ng learned.

Ogundipe who has a near-cult following home and abroad is the shepherd of Genesis Global – which he built -, a parish of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC).

He has, however, been at logger’s heads with the leadership of the Celestial Church of Christ over issues about discipline and allegations of deviation from the tenets and doctrines of the CCC.

Genesis was given a year prison sentence, yesterday, by the court which found him guilty of two out of seven counts charge that include obtaining N17million from Mrs Williams – Oni under false pretense.