The face-off between the Founder of Believers Love World (aka Christ Embassy) Chris Oyakhilome, and his wife, Anita, has taken a new dimension with Mr. Oyakhilome now removed as a trustee of a United Kingdom’s branch of the church.
With Mr. Oyakhilome’s removal, his wife, Anita, now presides over a seven-man Board of Trustees of the N8.2 billion rich branch, church documents reviewed by Premium Times have shown.
The six other members of the board are Obi Chiemeka, Ifeoma Onubogu, Nkem Odiakah, Raymond Okocha, Tony Obi and Uche Onubogu, all pastors believed to be loyal to Mrs. Oyakhilome.
Mrs. Oyakhilome has for long headed the U.K branch of the church but her husband, before what appears his sudden removal, had since inception presided over the Board of Trustees of the charity.
The new development suggests that in addition to the matrimonial squabble the couples are having, an intense power struggle and battle for the soul of the U.K. branch of the church might be going on between the estranged lovers and partners as well.
In fact, Mr. Oyakhilome had dropped the first hint that there might be a hierarchical row in the church when he reportedly accused his wife of acting like an equal and wanting to overpower the authorities of the elders she met in the church.
Premium Times review of documents filed by the church’s UK branch to the Charity Commission of England and Wales has now shown that Mr. Oyakhilome is no longer a registered trustee of a branch of his church with total asset worth over N8.2 billion (£31 million).
Until he was recently abruptly removed, Mr. Oyakhilome was consistently listed as a prominent trustee since 1996, when the branch was established.
Contrary to the church’s practice of stating reasons for removal of trustees in the past, no reason has been given for the removal of Pastor Oyakhilome.