Judgement begins in house of God: Deeper Life pastor jailed for N1m fraud

A court in Ibadan, Oyo State, has found a Deeper Life Bible Church pastor  guilty of defrauding a victim of the sum of one million naira.
As a result, Pastor Odenigbo Theophilus is to spend the next seven years in prison ministering to the souls he has deceived for engaging in fraud.
The pastor with itching hands was sentenced by an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan for defrauding a retiree, Mr Ojo Gbadebo, of N1m under false pretence.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Justice Muniru Owolabi found the defendant guilty in a two-hour judgment delivered on Friday in Ibadan. Owolabi said the prosecutor had proved the charge of advance fee fraud against the convict beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge said the convict defrauded the retiree under the guise of helping him to invest his N1m in an engine oil business that would yield an interest of N80,000 monthly.
Owolabi said the convict admitted using the money to offset a loan instead of investing it in the oil business as agreed.
The judge said that the convict failed to pay the retiree neither the interest nor the capital. He said the convict betrayed the trust reposed in him by the retiree being a pastor of the Deeper Life Bible Church in Abolongo, Oyo town. Owolabi, therefore, sentenced the convict to seven years in prison with hard labour and without an option of fine.
Earlier, the convict’s counsel, Mr Ennis Olayinka, had pleaded with the court to be lenient in sentencing his client, saying he was a first offender and the breadwinner of his family.
The Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Oyelakin Oyeyemi, urged the court to impose the sentence as contained in the section in which he was charged.