On November 18, Justice Olabisi Akinlade sentenced the popular prophet to one year in prison for converting a woman’s property to his personal use and stealing.
Prophet Israel Ogundipe, Senior Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Genesis Global, claims God sent him there for a mission.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos awarded Ogundipe post-conviction bail.
On April 1, a three-member jury granted the cleric bail due to health concerns.
On November 18, Justice Olabisi Akinlade sentenced the famous prophet to one year in prison for converting a woman’s property to his personal use and cheating.
The court found Ogundipe guilty of cheating and unlawfully converting the property of Mrs Oladele Williams-Oni, a London-based architect.
Ogundipe, who was charged with seven counts of receiving by theft, inducing delivery of money by false pretenses, wrongful conversion of goods, and forgery, fraudulently obtained N14m and £12,000 from the claimant in various tranches between August 30, 2002 and 2005.
Justice Akinlade, who found the cleric guilty on two charges of theft and wrongful transfer of property not delivered, sentenced him to one year in jail on each count and ordered him to pay the claimant N11 million, which he unlawfully received from her.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, Ogundipe applied to the appellate court for bail pending the hearing of the appeal and an attempt to quash the conviction through his lawyer, Babatunde Ogala (SAN).
The cleric addressed his church members a few days ago and expressed his encounter with them, thanking all who supported him.
He said, “I want to tell you that the devil is messing up with the wrong person. Maybe the devil thought what I went through would make me become cold but instead of me becoming cold, I’m gold! I’m gold that would be in the fire and still shine and still step out of the fire.
“Let me tell you: you might not go through what I went through but your own is coming but might not be as big as mine. It’s better He sends you to the wilderness than be dead. If you call yourself a mentor and you don’t have a tough example like mine, then you aren’t there. When I was there, I thought some people would come up to help but God shut them and said they were not going to do it.
“It’s always good to fight your battle while you are still young. I know a man of God who is currently battling with cancer. There’s no way you can do it but all you need to do is pray so that you won’t experience the one that will kill you. You want to hear more about my story. No! Go and download my app. Or you can wait for my book. I will make profit from my pain!
“If I didn’t go through the turbulence, I would have died. The only thing that I have brought out is forgiveness because if you call yourself a lawyer, there are a lot of lawyers there. There are a lot of billionaires there. There are a lot of doctors there. Don’t worry, you will hear a lot of stories. That is the only place God can send me for practical and I come out to feed you back, not in heaven, because I can’t come back. He wouldn’t send me to heaven. I can tell you there are teachers there who teach people who can’t go to school and earn five hundred monthly. If I should tell you what I saw there, Nigerian government will come after me.
“Someone got a 60-year sentence and the person is already 55. Do you think you know how to pray? Thank God for what He’s done for you. Let me tell you, there’s a reason God sent me there. Eleven million can never be my problem. Something that was said to be around N2.5 million suddenly became N11 million and I was told to do a plea bargain but I would advise anybody not to.”
