I prevented a religious war; OPM General Overseer Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere speaks on Deborah, Happy boys

The General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries Worldwide, OPM, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, has taken a swipe at an online Media platform over a publication made a fortnight ago, insinuating that his (Chinyere’s) humanitarian gesture, especially to the family of late Deborah Samuel Yakubu is a scam.

Africa Update reports that the General Overseer, who expressed dismay at the level of mischief exhibited by the online Media platform, wondered why the same energy used in the bid to smear his reputation is not channelled towards ensuring that those who murdered Deborah in cold blood are arrested.

Speaking yesterday in Port Harcourt the Rivers State Capital, on the heels of several publications against him, Apostle Chinyere said, he quickly offered to relocate Deborah’s family after he heard about her death to prevent a religious war.

He noted that after the incident, most Christians living in the North were afraid to send their children to school, while others were preparing to retaliate the murder. But with his quick intervention, her siblings and parents were moved to Port Harcourt where they were given an estate, a vehicle and a restaurant.

Though at the time they arrived Port Harcourt the estate that was gifted to them didn’t have any occupants, so they were moved to a rented apartment where they stayed for awhile and later moved into the Estate when other occupants moved in.

Chinyere said, the rent from the self contained apartments are paid directly to Deborah’s father who has so far received over N800,000. The restaurant that was set up for Deborah’s mother is also operational with a lady whom Deborah’s mother employed, running the place and giving returns to Deborah’s mother.

As regards the vehicle, which the online publication described as nonfunctional, Apostle Chibuzor said Deborah’s father had difficulties driving an automatic transmission car considering that he learnt how to drive with a manual car.

He wondered why people will misinform the public with the intention of discrediting his humanitarian gesture. He stressed that he has over 18 estates where people live without paying rent.

He revealed that his humanitarian gesture is borne out of the sufferings he experienced as a youth and his breakthrough came when he came in contact with the onwer of Sobaz oil, who paid for the first property he used for his ministry after God used him (Chinyere) to heal Sobaz’s child.

He said he has enjoyed numerous support from individuals during the period he was struggling as a young man who worked as a security guard and did other demeaning jobs just to survive.

Chinyere stressed that his quest to become successful was actualised with the help of philanthropic individuals. Being a beneficiary of such benevolence, it is difficult for him to turn a blind eye to the sufferings of people.

With over 25 free schools in communities in Rivers, Lagos, Jos, Kano and Nasarawa States and two health centres rendering free medical services to pregnant women and the less privileged in Rivers State, he revealed that publication such as those making the rounds made him feel disheartened that individuals are bent on discouraging him from continuing a gesture he has been doing for over 10 years.

Responding to questions from newsmen about the posts made by the happy boys who claimed to have been abandoned in Cyprus, the General Overseer said, due to the high exchange rates, it became almost impossible for him to continue with the overseas scholarship.

He consequently engaged the beneficiaries to explain the current reality and gave them two options to either stop their education to work and gather funds to enable them continue or to work and fund their education if they so desired.

He said on the strength of the prevailing economic situation, he went ahead to make alternative arrangements for students to study at Universities in Benin Republic, where a free restaurant has been established to provide free food for those on scholarship. And arrangements have been made with Universities in Cotonu, Ghana, and the Open University in Nigeria.

The General Overseer noted that several persons have benefited from that arrangement and he expected the Happy boys to have taken advantage of the new package but he was surprised that they went online to post that video which they have since retracted and apologized.

Interestingly, Africa Update observed that when questions were thrown at Deborah’s parents, an interpreter had to translate it in Hausa language and their responses were also translated back to the journalists. Mr and Mrs. Samuel Yakubu attended the press briefing with their children.

Recall that Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a second year student at Shehu Shagari College of Education, in Sokoto State was lynched by students and some persons hired by the extremists for blaspheming against Prophet Muhammad.