Pastor Chris Oyakhilome is under fire again after
it emerged that he charged parishioners a N1,000
(£3.60) gate fee to attend a New Year’s Eve
service in Lagos.
On April 9 last year, Pastor
Oyakhilome’s wife Anita filed for a divorce citing
unreasonable behaviour and adultery as her
grounds for seeking a separation. Since then, he
and his wife have been involved in a high-profile
exchange of words in the media, with each of
them accusing the others of all forms of
impropriety. To add to his headaches, Pastor
Oyakhilome has come under fierce criticism for
charging worshippers tom attend his New Years
Eve service at Christ Embassy’s headquarters in
the Oregun area of Lagos on December 31. Those
who could not afford the N1,000 passes were
turned back and told that they could go elsewhere
to worship or watch the service online for free.
Many people described it as extortion and abuse
of Jesus’ teachings and another confirmation that
some Nigerian churches and pastors are more
interested in making money than winning souls for
God. However, the church explained that it was a
way of controlling the crowd and discouraging
thousands of people who come to church once a
year on December 31 and prevent real
worshippers from securing seats on that
important night. With a seating capacity of
roughly 20,000 seats, Christ Embassy might have
made at least N20m (£71,500) from the sale of
gate passes used for the crossover service.
Worshippers and former staff have complained in
the past that the emphasis was often too much
on money in the church rather than on spiritual
things Jesus Christ taught his disciples. Since
the revelations about the gate fees collection at
Christ Embassy Church were made public last
week, Nigerians have continued to express shock,
outrage and indignation with many finding it hard
to believe it. Many worshippers expressed their
indignation on the social media, especially
Facebook. Femi Olulowo said: “Gate fee
collection appears good for crowd control in a
theatre or secular concert but not sound enough
in the house of God where Christ the head of the
church bids everyone to come, even when they
only respond once in a year. Even if the church
prefers its already saved members to partake in a
particular service, gate pass should have been
given to them at no cost and they will have the
privilege of going in first.” Onyeka Okochi added:
“Salvation doesn’t come at a cost. In the Bible, a
man who wanted to pay for salvation was
refused.” Pastor Oyakhilome’s congregation is
reported to be 40,000 strong and Forbes
estimated his net worth, which includes diversified
interests such as newspapers, magazines, a local
television station, a record label, satellite TV,
hotels and extensive real estate, at $50m. He
travels around the world in a jet and moves
around Lagos with bodyguards and heavily armed
policemen.
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