Unknown to many, the moves to hound the leadership of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David under Pastor Idowu Iluyomade didn’t just start after the 60th birthday celebration of his wife, Dr Siju Iluyomade.
There has been underground murmuring within the top hierarchy of the church allegedly from the headquarters, trying to unravel how Pastor ID as he’s fondly called was able to build assets for the church and gained grounds within the ranks of RCCG; hence, the conspiracy to cut his wings.
According to reliable sources within the RCCG, recent allegations of holding a birthday bash during the mourning of late Herbert Wigwe, wife and son, as well as probing the financial state of City of David are mere conspiracy theories to hoodwink the gullible. The situation, we learnt, can be attributed to giving dog a bad name in orther to hang it.
The plan was meant to tarnish the reputation of both Pastor ID and Dr Siju in the public and mount pressures on the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to push the Iluyomades out of the church. One of the sources who worships at the Ebute-Metta headquarters, likened the politics within the leadership of RCCG to that of Nigeria.
“There is no difference between how our politicians do their game and how they do it in RCCG. You tend to see much desperation toward the pastor of a particular parish. We have given our opinions that this is what can be sorted in-house quietly instead of heating up the fragile unity we have,” the source said.
Our findings revealed that, some of the allegations levied against Pastor ID on the debt owed Access Bank by City of David, are mere interest on the N16.6billion loaned out of which the church has paid back 7.6billion as reported by Access Bank. The source revealed that N10.5 billion is the real loan and N6.1billion, and that the interest accrued over the years.
The bank put the sum of N373,578,342.77 as the interest due on July 21, 2024 in addition to a total outstanding principal of N9 billion.
Indeed, according to the source, the N373.5 million is not due for payment until July 21 but the church under Pastor Iluyomade has already deposited N200 million in the account. What is remaining is N173 million to complete the interest sum.
Pastor ID has been given credence by many of the lieutenants of Pastor Adeboye for coming clean in the face of so many battles and still keeping calm.
The leadership of the Apapa Family and City of David branch of RCCG under Pastor ID and Dr Siju has been given kudos for giving a face to RCCG in Lagos and beyond. The parish is categorized as the beautiful bride of RCCG, while Pastor ID led the congregation to make the branch the envy of all in all, and the wife who is also a pastor, in the last 15 years, has been championing the women’s cause, through Arise Women Foundation, a humanitarian body that has written its name in gold.
Dr Siju who is a lawyer of over 30 years experience, has used her Arise Women platform as a source of intervention for the less privileged across the country in the last 15 years, building schools, hospitals, boreholes, provisions of fertilisers for farmers, skills acquisition, empowerment initiatives, and many more.
There’s also the yearly Women Arise Conference, where speakers from across the world and within Nigeria come together to chart new ways for women and empowers thousands of people irrespective of tribes and ethnicity, as well as the Pink Bucket food basket which has indeed become a household name, to the credit of RCCG as a whole.
Meanwhile, regardless of the alleged desperation and ulterior motives of the promoters of the current situation, Pastor ID seems to have maintained his silence and remains loyal to Pastor Adeboye and genuine leaders of the church while on transfer to the Ebute-Metta headquarters.