The embattled founder and leader of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Biodun Fatoyinbo, delivered his first Sunday sermon since the allegation of rape broke on Thursday.
Although there were speculations
that Mr Fatoyinbo would not attend the service; he did.
Before the sermon commenced, about
seven women gave what was tagged ”COZA testimony.” All the women spoke,
separately, about how they met Mr Fatoyinbo and how their life has changed for
good.
The cleric’s wife, Omodele
Fatoyinbo, started the sermon with a Bible scripture from ”2 Samuel 22:1”
She rejected the rape allegation
against her husband and said he would never do such.
Mr Fatoyinbo then climbed the
podium to appreciate his members for being steadfast despite the allegations.
The programme which started at about
9 a.m. ended at 10:35 a.m.
Background
Biodun Fatoyinbo has held
Nigerian headlines since Thursday morning when the interview of one of his
alleged victims was made public.
Busola Dakolo, a former
member of COZA, told YNaija in the emotional interview that she was 16 when Mr
Fatoyinbo raped her in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The allegations prompted
condemnation of the preacher, who has faced previous allegations of sexual
misconduct from two women.
On Sunday, scores of
protesters gathered at the church’s headquarters in Abuja to march against Mr
Fatoyinbo.
Simultaneous protests
were held in Lagos and Abuja.
Despite the protests,
thousands of church members still gathered to worship at the Abuja church.
Exact Words
When he spoke, Mr
Fatoyino said he had been consulting with his mentors. He also announced the
suspension of a planned programme of the church.
SEE HIS FULL STATEMENT
BELOW.
”Having you in my life, I
am the most blessed pastor in the world. It took me a long time to get here
today. I did not like what I saw today. Some if you came early, this is not
what I want to put you through. I will only say something to you, if I was not
a pastor of this church, I will be a member.
“I have been relating
with all my mentors, you know I am a man under authority, I really love to
listen to them. So, I am going to be giving a few instructions as time goes on
but the first instruction I want to give is, be that as it may with what is
going on, I am not a desperate person to say we must have the programme. With
what is going on I don’t want to put any… I don’t like… I am a peaceful person,
you know that.
“So, because of this, we
are going to be having prayers every day for those who are interested to come.
But we are not going to have the ‘seven days of glory’ (grumbling) because I
don’t want all these kinds of stuff. I think last month we prayed for a whole
month and we do all of that. Please, let’s be people of peace.
“So, if you want to pray
with us, you can come here to pray. But the regular seven days…, you don’t want
to put your guest speakers through that. You know we love to host people
properly; we don’t want to do that. And you know some of them, apart from the
fact that the Lord spoke to me about that, my mentors said to me, this is what
we need to do while we step in and make sure we see what is going on. And you
know what we stand for in COZA. So, please let’s obey God in our mentors and be
a people of peace.
“Also, when you are going
out, they are going to direct you how to go out, please don’t fight anybody,
don’t reply anybody, you came to worship. They may say things to you, it
doesn’t matter. Please, behave yourselves and make sure everything is in
place.”
”Please don’t fight
anybody, don’t reply anybody. You came to worship. You should know better.
”How many of you have
been blessed in Coza? They may say things to you, it does not matter, you have
a personal experience. Be peaceable and walk out in Jesus name. I want to
encourage and appeal to those who are in the church. I don’t want security
agent to rough handle you and you say it’s COZA. Please behave yourself and
make sure everything is in place. The lord is your strength in Jesus name.”
Mr Fatoyinbo then prayed
for the congregation.
Source: Premiumtimesng
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