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Tag: Israel Ogundipe

  • Celestial Church cleric gets bail in N11m fraud case

    Celestial Church cleric gets bail in N11m fraud case

    The Court of Appeal in Lagos on Thursday upheld the application for post-conviction bail by the founder of Genesis Parish of Celestial Church of Christ, Evangelist Israel Ogundipe.

    A three-man panel of the court granted Ogundipe bail on health grounds.

    The justices held that the bail subsists pending the determination of Ogundipe’s appeal challenging his two-year jail term for defrauding a United Kingdom-based woman of N11 million.

    A Lagos State High Court convicted and sentenced the popular televangelist last November, of defrauding Mrs Olaide Williams-Oni, following a trial that began in 2011.

    Justice Olabisi Akinlade found the priest guilty of two of the seven counts of obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretences, unlawful conversion of property and forgery.

    She dismissed the remaining five for lack of evidence.

    Akinlade ordered Ogundipe to pay the plaintiff the sum of N11m, which he illegally obtained from her.

    “Both sentences are to run concurrently and the defendant is to restitute the complainant the sum of N2.5million in respect of count two (stealing) and N8.5million in respect of count 4 (unlawful conversion of property not delivered),” the judge said.

    But, displeased, the convict, through his counsel, Mr. Babatunde K. Ogala, SAN, approached the appellate court for bail pending appeal and an application to quash the conviction.

    Ogala argued that the televangelist was diabetic, could no longer follow a strict diet and the constant specialised medical attention in custody, which had taken a toll on his health made him “gaunt in appearance.”

    He stated, among others, that prior to his incarceration, Ogundipe was suffering from hypertension, peptic ulcer and unending malaria which had worsened his health challenges since his November 18 conviction.

    Delivering the lead ruling on Thursday, Justice Abudullhai Muhammed Bayero admitted Ogundipe to bail in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in like sum.

     

  • Court rejects bail application of popular Lagos pastor jailed for fraud

    Court rejects bail application of popular Lagos pastor jailed for fraud

    Embattled pastor and shepherd-in-charge of Celestial Church of Christ, Global Genesis Parish, Lagos, Israel Ogundipe, has lost the post-conviction bail application he filed after he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for fraud.

    A Lagos State High Court had convicted Ogundipe for defrauding Olaide Williams-Oni, a UK-based woman, of N17 million.

    Before the conviction, the pastor had been on trial since 2011, for seven counts of obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretence, unlawful conversion of property, and forgery.

    Ogundipe, who cited health grounds, asked the court to grant him unconditional bail pending the hearing and determination of the appeal of his sentence.

    Defending the bail application, Olanrewaju Ajanaku, his counsel, in a 16-paragraph affidavit, said Ogundipe is suffering from diabetes, which requires a strict diet and specialised medical attention which cannot be provided in the correctional centre.

    Ajanaku also noted that his client was suffering from hypertension, peptic ulcer and unending malaria, before his conviction, which has become worse, making him look pale.

    Arguing against the bail application, Rotimi Odutola, the prosecuting counsel, in a counter-affidavit, said during the several years of the trial, the Lagos-based pastor never complained about his health.

    Odutola argued that if Ogundipe’s health status requires special medical attention, the correctional centre will carry out a referral without informing anyone.

    “It is now he is alluding to facts about his alleged state of health now that he has being in custody for barely three weeks,” Odutola said.

    “Indeed, if his health status truly requires treatment, the correctional centres also have a procedure for referral where an inmate’s health case so demands without the prompting of anyone.”

    Olabisi Akinlade, judge of the Ikeja high court, dismissed the bail application and ordered the Lagos-based pastor to continue serving his sentence at the Kirikiri correctional centre.

    Akinlade, in the ruling, said Ogundipe had not proved his case to persuade the court to grant him bail.

  • Popular Lagos pastor, Ogundipe sentenced to jail for unlawful conversion, stealing N14m, £12,000

    Popular Lagos pastor, Ogundipe sentenced to jail for unlawful conversion, stealing N14m, £12,000

    A popular televangelist and the head Genesis Parish of the Celestial Church of Christ, Alagbado, Lagos, Isreal Ogundipe, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by an Ikeja High Court for unlawfully converting a woman’s property and stealing.

    Ogundipe, who has been on trial since 2011, was charged with seven-counts of obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretenses, unlawful conversion of property and forgery.

    Delivering the judgement in the matter Thursday, Justice Olabisi Akinlade found Ogundipe guilty of two out of the seven count charge brought against him by the state and sentenced him to one year imprisonment on each of the count.

    He would however spend one year in prison as the sentence will run concurrently.

    The court found the prophet not guilty of five-counts of stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretenses, giving false information to a public officer forgery.

    Justice Akinlade ordered the convict to make restitution of N11million to the complainant, a London-based architect, Mrs. Oladele Williams-Oni on counts two and four.

    Lead prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Rotimi Odutola, thanked the court for ”a well-considered judgment.”

    According to the prosecution, Ogundipe committed between August 30, 2002 and 2005.

    He was alleged to have fraudulently obtained N14million and £12,000 in several tranches from the complainant.

    The convict was also said to have between August 30, 2002 and December 2003, at No. 32, Bello St., Ladipo Estate, Shogunle, Lagos allegedly collected N2.9million from Williams-Oni to purchase an uncompleted building for her but fraudulently converted the money to his own use.

    The prosecution said that between March and December 2003 at Commint Bereau De Change, Broad Street, Lagos, the convict allegedly stole 12,000 British pounds from the complainant which was meant for the purchase of four plots of land for building a mosque.

    He is alleged to have stolen N8.5million between October 2002 and March 2003 from Williams-Oni for the purchase of landed properties in Lagos,” Odutola said.

    The prosecution also said that on diverse days between 2002 and 2003 he had received N2.6million from the complainant by falsely representing to her that he is man of God and that the money is to be used for his church.

    The convict was also alleged to have forged a Nigerian International Passport which carried his photo in the name Sanyaolu Babatunde Solomon at the Passport Office located at Oba Akinjobi St., Ikeja, Lagos,” Odutola said.

    According to the prosecution, the offences contravenes Sections 390(9), 419 and 467(1)(b) of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos 2003.