By Wale Ishola
A popular prophet and Shepherd in charge of the Celestial Church of Church, Global Genesis Church, Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, will spend a year in prison except he appeals the conviction by a Lagos State High Court, which sentenced him to two years imprisonment, following two guilty charges in a fraud case. The jail term will run concurrently.
Prophet Ogundipe was sentenced for defrauding a London-based woman, Mrs Olaide Williams-Oni, who said she sent some money to the prophet to help him acquire a landed property, but he never did, nor return her money.
She said efforts to retrieve her money proved abortive, as he started blackmailing her.
The trial judge, Justice Olabisi Akinlade, who sentenced Prophet Ogundipe, found him guilty of two-count charges out of the seven he was charged with.
Justice Akinlade, in a judgment that lasted for about four hours, sentenced the prophet to a year imprisonment each for counts two and four.
She, however, discharged him of counts one, three, five, six and seven for lack of evidence against him.
Justice Akinlade held that the prosecution, led by Mrs Rotimi Odutola, was able to prove the case against Prophet Oladele beyond reasonable doubt.
“The defendant is hereby convicted for count two and four but the court acquits him of count 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 because the prosecution did not produce the witness to prove the charge against him.
“He is thereby sentenced to a year jail term for each of the counts he was convicted for and the terms are to run concurrently,” the judge pronounced.
Justice Akinlade further ruled that the sentence is to run concurrently. She, however, added that the defendant is to repay the sum of N2.5 million in respect of count two and N8.5 million in respect count four, with the total being N11 million as restitution.
It was gathered that immediately the judgment was pronounced, the defendant broke down in court and pleaded for mercy.
He said: “My lord, I will pay the money right now in court if given the opportunity, I will just call few people and the money will be ready,” he said.
The court, however, replied him that he should have done that initially when the matter was first brought to court.
Counsel for the defendant, Mr Olanrewaju Ajanaku, urged the court to temper justice with mercy, saying the convict is a father to many children.
“We urge your lordship to be lenient with the defendant because many people depend on him.”
The prosecution, however, thanked the court for the judgment delivered after many years.
Oladele was charged with a six-count charge bordering on forgery and obtaining money by false pretence, preferred against him by the Lagos State government sometime in June 2010.
He was said to have defrauded one Mrs Olaide Williams-Oni, a London-based architect of N17 million.
Oni alleged that the preacher defrauded her and attempted to blackmail her into forfeiting all her landed property in his custody.
According to Williams-Oni in her evidence before the court, Prophet Ogundipe called her and advised her to invest in landed property in Lagos, an advice she claimed she heeded after consultation with some persons.
Williams-Oni said she sent money to Oladele in five instalments of N900,000, N2.5 million, N8.5 million, N2.7 million and 12,000 pound sterling between 2002 and 2005 to purchase the property on her behalf.
She alleged that after collecting the money, the prophet converted some of the said property to his personal use and refused to refund the money for the others.
“When I confronted him about this, he started threatening my life and blackmailing me. He was saying that I had a son for him, which became an embarrassment to my family,” she claimed.
