Faith and Miracle International Church (FMIC), Senior Prophet G.F. David, has recounted how he became a target of armed attackers while property belonging to the church, valued at over ₦21 million, was destroyed.
David spoke during a press conference where he narrated the circumstances surrounding the attack on FMIC City, located beside Gurumalahji Village along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
He also spoke about the land dispute surrounding the church property, allegations of threats and defamation, previous attacks on the church, the presence of security personnel at FMIC City and petitions submitted to the authorities.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
Question: What is the press conference about, sir?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
I want you to be a witness to the breach of fundamental human rights, libel, defamation of character and storytelling. I want you to know what is going on over a land we acquired by Odo-Ona Way, beside Gurumalahji Village.
I want to straighten out some misconceptions that have gone out from the opposing party and clear the air from talks about manipulation, libel and attacks on my personality by a group called One Love Family, led by the self-acclaimed Godman Sat Gurumalahji.
Question: You talked about defamation of character and deception. What is this about?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
We acquired the land legally. We did our due diligence and got the C of O from the relevant agencies, the Ministry of Lands. The person who sold it to us could not sell the land for many years since he acquired it.
We bought the land not knowing there was any issue. Because of the story we heard of hostility from the sect group, we decided in our hearts, as bold Christians, to be part of it.
Right from when we got the land, we started having issues, including the sending of thugs. We have video evidence, which is not for social media, and the matter is in court.
Some of our members who are in the Force came.
The major attack was when we had a programme on the land with over 1,000 people. At a point, we started perceiving a choking odour. As a leader, I went to the other side of the fence and saw people in green attire burning pepper with cotton wool, and the smoke was following the direction of the wind.
It caused some bodily harm to some of our members and they had to go to the hospital to get themselves checked. That was the first attack. Some people were arrested and taken to court.
About recently, there has been a more sinister attack. We had a three-day event titled “Possessing the Gate,” which is found in Matthew 16:18.
Gurumalahji started to write something about “Wetie.” Wetie was a serious matter in the 1990s. The programme did not have anything to do with Wetie. He started selling that narrative. We ignored him, thinking it was old age, but we had extra security.
Until we finished the meeting on Sunday, we went home and I was thanking God for the beautiful meeting we had. About 4 a.m., I received a knock on my door that there were armed men beating up our workers and setting the church property ablaze.
I called my security team, but because of the stress of waking up to that kind of news, I sent my media people to go and check the state of the place.
We found out that my picture was shot at with two kinds of rifles — pump-action and AK-47. The shots were directed at my face and are still there. We have video evidence.
When the gunmen were beating one of the workers, they said, “We don’t want to see you here. This land belongs to Gurumalahji. This land does not belong to G.F. David.”
Our property was destroyed and some were burnt. They tried to carry the gate, but it was too heavy.
I decided not to take up a reprisal attack. We took the matter to the law and to the police at Eleyele. Instead of retaliating, because we found out that this is the modus operandi of that sect — that they use threats to intimidate people — we decided to embark on a peaceful protest on Monday to the police headquarters at Eleyele.
We have written several petitions and they have fallen on deaf ears. It seems the man has used delay tactics to prevent the authorities from looking into the issue.
The man who sold this land to us took him to court and we were joined in the suit. During the last sitting, none of his people were in court, and there was no time the government said we should stop work on the land.
The argument was that he sold the land unlawfully. We checked it in Abuja.
I was not afraid. I thank the Commissioner of Police because if we wanted to go aura for aura, the Wetie, which is to invite violence, would have been achieved.
But we are peaceful and law-abiding. We made our grievances known to the government and they are investigating. Election is coming and the best thing is to go to court.
Question: When did you buy the land and what is the relationship between you and the person who sold it to you?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
According to history, we got the land in the month of March. We did our due diligence before we bought it.
As for the relationship between the owner of the land and the seller, he purchased it in 2007 and tried to sell it.
According to Gurumalahji himself, a lot of people had been trying to buy the land but he chased them away. So there has been a history of violence towards people who want to buy the land.
We followed the law. We have the backing of God, the real God, and Jesus Christ. God helped us not to be afraid despite all the smear campaigns and attacks towards me and my family.
The land is 3.5 hectares.
Question: Apart from the law, has there been any other intervention from non-governmental organisations?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
By the grace of God, we met with the family and we did our due diligence.
Question: Two cases are before the court — the human rights abuse involving the spraying of pepper and the other one. Are you aware of the court set up to address land grabbing, and did you approach the court?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
The person that got the land involved the land-grabbing court, which we were oblivious to, and the Kabiyesi is aware.
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Question: Are you the first buyer?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
We are the second buyer.
Question: What have you been facing since you bought the land?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
Yes, we have been facing threats, and we have been using security for protection while work is going on there.
About the pepper incident, they arrested four of the Gurumalahji members and the case was taken to court.
Question: You talked about a military base to be established at FMIC City, but the opposing side said you are using security personnel to terrorise their lives.
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
About the latest attack, the aim is to incite, like using the word Wetie. When someone speaks one lie, what is the tendency that other things are not lies?
The security presence in FMIC City was given to the church to prevent what happened at Akure, where Christians were murdered, which brought the attention of the American government.
A church of about 2,000 people gathered here for worship. Imagine armed men entering a gathering. To prevent that, the government, in its wisdom, provided us with security.
The pictures that you see that they posted are of me looking at and patrolling the area. I was the one who posted the video, telling people not to be afraid. They took that picture and doctored it.
We don’t threaten anybody. You are using the colour red to threaten people. In retrospect, I will say that such things should be investigated.
If we were shot at, chairs broken, fire was set and our property burnt, and I was threatened, any good government would do the right thing by providing security.
Children were there and old people, and they did not care about them. I have never said I will eliminate anybody.
I am too Western and too educated to eliminate anybody. All the things he is saying are calumny against my person. They are lies, libel and criminal defamation — saying unprintable things about me and saying that we were the ones who destroyed our own property.
The Bible says, “To the pure, all things are pure.”
I call on the relevant security agencies to probe this matter. I say this: if you are capable of something, I am not like that.
Saying that the attack in the church was staged — I want the government to probe it. We are bent on seeking justice.
Question: Please elaborate on the petitions the church had written to the police and the protest you embarked upon to the Police Headquarters at Eleyele after the gun attack.
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
I believe if I have done something against the law, I should be called to order or invited.
After the pepper spray, the sect members who were arrested and taken to court came out and started saying unprintable things about me, and the government is quiet. They feel they are above the law.
I believe that we are in a country and no group is above the law.
We have seen cases like this in the United States of America, where people like the Moral Obedience Movement under David Koresh, a man who called himself God, and the Peoples Temple under Jim Jones were allowed to operate without proper checks, and we saw what happened.
Every institution should be checked. We should look at Nigeria. Boko Haram was born from one man who called himself something special. One of the things God is helping us to achieve is to unmask wickedness left unchecked for many years.
They made a video threatening my life, saying that I said I could use anything to defend myself, which is totally wrong.
We finished a three-day crusade and went to rest. The next day, they attacked us and he said it was staged.
They are saying on social media that if I have the power of God, why am I walking around with security, that Sat Gurumalahji does not go about with security.
The problem is that when you have a group of people who do not want to see development, government should look into them so that history will not repeat itself.
When you have a person with a history of such a mindset who calls himself God, it is a red flag and should be investigated.
I believe that after the pepper-spray attack, he ought to have been invited.
There is another angle: if we are illegal, why did the government not tell us to stop work?
We are not on the land-grabbing case; we were joined to the case. We have the papers, but he claims he has the power of attorney. The owners of the place are reacting with so much fear, but the Bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and a sound mind.
We have not been invited since we wrote a petition.
One of the tactics he always uses is that he wants a stay because we don’t stay there, so that work will not go on there.
A lot of finances have gone into this work, and if we are asked to stop, it will not augur well with the government or anyone that people did their due diligence only for land grabbers to come into the place.
They call me a land grabber, but I’m not a land grabber. Does a land grabber have a C of O?
We have approached everybody approachable. We have a team of lawyers and, like I said, we have over 2,000 registered members. We have all forms of state authority represented in our church.
We have reached out to the authorities. We believe they want us to be provoked and act.
The other attack was spontaneous. I did a video and said my life is hidden in Christ, and one of them said, “If your life is hidden in Christ, why are you walking around with security? Walk without security and see.”
And I said, “If you have nothing to lose, you will have nothing to secure.”
There is a way you will see a person and think that person is a soft target. The police and army you see are there to secure the people and the property.
Question: Can you give an account of the property that was damaged?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
Those properties that were destroyed run into millions of naira. What we calculated was ₦21.7 million.
Inventory of Damaged Properties and Expenses
Entrance main gate — ₦855,300
Aluminium windows and nets — ₦520,400
Billboard banners (2) — ₦780,250
120 dozens of chairs burned (1,440 pieces) — ₦17,280,000
Canopies — ₦1,850,000
Van windscreen — ₦350,000
Plastic table — ₦85,000
TOTAL: ₦21,720,950
Question: What do you want the authorities to do?
Senior Prophet G.F. David:
We want them to stop the bullying and stop lying on social media.
For instance, they are saying our crusade was titled Wetie. That was absurd. I was not born during the Wetie era. That is libel and inciting people against my person.
Saying that we got police and soldiers to harass them is a lie.
When we wanted to acquire the land, we went there because of the violence in the area.
They brought a photo of me wearing camouflage. I wear camouflage not because my brother is a captain in the American Army. I have military personnel, including a major general, in my church, and they went with me in their capacity as members.
I have never acknowledged myself as a soldier. I don’t have a rank.
All this is meant to cause public uprising against my person.
The campaign of calumny must stop. They should stop calling me names and trying to isolate me.
Everybody has an expiry date. That is called time. It is only delusion that makes one think he will live forever.
There is a word called “live and let live.”
They are trying to whip up enmity against me. When you have someone who feels allegedly untouchable, it is a bad sign for any system that has proper governance.
The reason I have been avoiding bantering words with him is that he has been posting my pictures, threatening me with Sango and Oya. His members are getting a coffin ready for me.
But when the threat becomes serious, when an elder behaves like a child, at that age he should not be sending assassins.
His joy should be to see that place develop and not remain a bush.
One of the beautiful things about the Christian faith is that there is a mark of development anywhere our feet go. There will be good schools. Any good religion brings development.
A good man of God should encourage me.
If we want to go by his way, his manpower cannot match our manpower. If we want to go aura for aura, this church has thousands of men. If we carry our men into that place, that is what he calls Wetie. He wants to incite violence.
The Bible says by the words of a man he stands condemned.
How can you sell a narrative that our crusade is called Wetie? Why?
We need to be very careful as a nation. I believe that, allegedly, we are breeding a viper.
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