By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
IKEJA, NIGERIA (Worthy News) - Nigerian authorities were investigating Monday a fire that destroyed the headquarters of one of the nation’s largest evangelical churches and that its controversial pastor blamed on the devil.
Pastor Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, who leads the Christ Embassy megachurch in Nigeria’s Lagos State, told his members, “We must look at life from the spiritual; this [fire] is not an accident. We are going to do something better.”
Looking at the extensive damage, he added: “God just gives us an opportunity to do something about it. What are we going to do? The house is gone, so we cleared out the place and built a better one. A more beautiful one. That is what we are going to do. Let the devil lick his wounds.”
Sunday’s blaze razed both the administrative block and the main auditorium of the church headquarters in the Oregun area of the town of Ikeja near Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city.
Church workers and other church members said they were preparing for the Sunday service when they had to rush to safety.
The fire at the massive complex broke out around 7 a.m. local time and was extinguished some seven hours later at around 3:10 p.m., preventing worshippers from holding service there.
They were taken to nearby Asese, a half-hour drive away, where the churches’ large Camp Ground is located along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway.
THANKING GOD
A Christ Embassy church member, identified as Chinonso, said, “I thank God nobody was in the church when the incident started. We cried but yet give thanks to God that nobody died or was injured.”
Yet questions remained about why the blaze could spread over seven long hours. Investigators also looked into reports that a power surge from electrical appliances caused the fire.
The fire was the latest setback for 60-year-old Oyakhilome, one of Africa's best-known evangelical preachers.
Dressed in his signature closed-neck suit, Pastor Oyakhilome has been accused of preaching the “prosperity Gospel,” saying that those who donate to his “ministry”’ will be rewarded with wealth and health.
In 2011, he was featured in Forbes magazine as one of Nigeria's wealthiest pastors, with an estimated net worth of $30 million to $50 million in a nation where many live in poverty.
However, he has responded to criticism by saying, "True prosperity comes from spiritual growth and adherence to God's principles, not mere material accumulation.”
The pastor also defended his criticism about vaccines ranging from longtime and well tested Malaria jabs to more experimental COVID-19 versions that authorities claim saved millions of lives.
TV FINED
His Loveworld Television Network was convicted and fined in Britain for what regulators called “false claims about the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He founded the Christ Embassy church in Nigeria's central city, Lagos, in the 1990s and went on to amass hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide, many of whom were watching through his seven television networks.
By 2019, the church had 145 branches on five continents, including in Nigeria, as well as countries such as Britain, Canada, Ghana, South Africa, and the United States.
His ability to operate in southwestern Lagos State comes while many other Nigerian Christians suffer for their faith in Christ, especially in northern regions.
Nigeria last year witnessed the bloodiest year of Islamist attacks against Christians, according to the respected International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety).
It said over 8,000 Christians were killed in 2023 by a range of factions, including groups such as Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, Boko Haram and their allies as well as Jihadist Fulani “Bandits” and “Islamic-inspired” security forces.
“Nigeria has become the second deadliest Genocide-Country in the world accounting for more than 150,000 religiously motivated defenseless civilian deaths since 2009,” the report claimed.
It said about 100,000 Christians were among the 150,000 killed while “moderate Muslims”accounted for about 46,000, and members of other religions for the remaining 4,000 civilian deaths.