The General Supervisor of ThankGod Awaited Liberation Ministry, Prophet Francis Otukwu, has condemned leaders of both Orthodox and Pentecostal churches who hide under cover of ‘giving for God’s work’ to extort millions from members and friends of their respective ministries, especially at a time when an unprecedented population of Nigerians are so impoverished that one meal a day has become a luxury.

He cited a recent encounter during which a controversial South-east-based Catholic cleric, Rev Father Ejike Mbaka, spiritual director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, attacked former governor of Anambra State and vice-presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic (PDP), Mr Peter Obi, over donation during a church programme. He said such was not an isolated case as some leaders of mega-Pentecostal churches in Lagos and Abuja are known to have made “Altar Calls” for multi-million naira donations.

Prophet Otukwu – who stated this on Sunday, at the annual Thanksgiving Service of the ministry, at the Mission House, 37A Adekoya Street, Ogba-Ijaiye, Lagos – lashed out on pastors and religious leaders who employ various guises of ‘donating to the work of God’ to “fleece their spiritually uninformed members and the public of millions of naira”, even as he queried: “How can monies given to individual pastors or their ministries registered and operated as personal estates of the trustees/general overseers into whose accounts such donations are paid be sincerely said to be giving to God?”

Otukwu noted that he does not condemn giving per se, as the Bible says “God loves a cheerful giver” and that people should give “as one is blessed of the Lord,” adding that politicians should on their part be committed to their election promises, and stop turning their back on the electorate after they’ve been elected into office.

Recalling what he described as “unprecedented record of performance as former governor who touched the life of the ordinary citizen”, he also agreed with Peter Obi’s response to the Adoration priest that, Jesus said “giving should be in private and not a public show, as common in Nigerian churches today where ‘Altar Calls’ are made in a way that people are manipulated to give out of compulsion, and not cheerfully.”

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