Deborah: Family denies reports of alleged withdrawal of cleric’s gifted estate

The family of the late Deborah Samuel has denied reports that the General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, abandoned them against his earlier promise to give them an estate.

Deborah, a 200-level student of Home Economics at Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was gruesomely killed by her fellow students for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

13 months after her death and subsequent relocation of the family by Apostle Chinyere to Port Harcourt, media reports claimed that Deborah’s family were harassed by their landlord to renew their rent or exit because it was a rented apartment and not the gifted estate as promised by the clergy.

However, The Guardian findings showed that as at the time the OPM founder relocated the family, the 14 flats mini estate promised them was not yet completed.

It was learnt that the clergy had to move Deborah’s family to a rented apartment, while construction works continued at their gifted estate. A recent visit to their permanent residence in Omokiri community, Aluu Ikwerre Local Council of Rivers State, showed that the mini estate consisting of 14 self-contained apartments had been completed and the family had moved in.

Late Deborah’s mother was seen cleaning the apartments that are relatively furnished. Speaking through an interpreter, Deborah’s mother, who could not communicate properly in English language, said it was not true that they had been abandoned by the OPM founder.

According to her, people had been reporting false stories against the family to discourage the General Overseer of OPM from assisting people. She also said that there is no problem between them and the founder of OPM, noting that it was the clergy that relocated them to the estate after their rent expired.

Deborah’s father, Emmanuel Samuel, who was invited to the altar, in church, alongside the wife by the OPM pastor, said the reports that the landlord was harassing them were untrue.

According to Samuel, all the documents for the 14 flats have been handed over to him. He said: “I have all the documents and keys to the estate now and we have moved in, Daddy has given us all and we are grateful.”

Speaking on the incident, Apostle Chineyere, explained that he rented an apartment for the family because the estate he promised to give them wasn’t ready when the family was relocated to Port Harcourt.

The pastor blamed the media interpreter for the family, who could not communicate properly in English language for giving out false information. He faulted the media for not making efforts to verify the information they got from the interpreter before publishing the contents given to them.

The cleric also blamed the lawyer he hired to manage the estate for travelling out of the country without adequately briefing the family and handing over their house documents to them.

While addressing his church members, the clergy said: “Deborah’s family is good but the people that interpreted for them misinterpreted the whole thing.

“When I moved them to Port Harcourt, I secured the services of a lawyer to manage the estate and collect rents for them, but the lawyer made a mistake by travelling out to Britain without handing over the documents to their permanent house to them. I have instructed him to hand over the keys and documents to the family, and they have the keys now.

“They are living in the estate now. When I relocated them from Niger State to Port Harcourt, the estate was not ready. So, I put them somewhere so that before the rent expires, they will relocate to their permanent property. We have finished the estate and the rent has expired and they have moved into the estate now.” (The Guardian)

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