NewsWhy I'm Seeking N350m Damages Against Bishop Oyedepo, Winners Chapel – Sacked...

Why I’m Seeking N350m Damages Against Bishop Oyedepo, Winners Chapel – Sacked Pastor

Pastor Dominion Esang, a sacked residential pastor of the Living Faith Church (aka Winners Chapel) has explained his decision to seek N350 million damages against Bishop Oyedepo and the church.

Pastor Esang, before his dismissal, was a residential pastor at the Palm Street Extension Parish of the Church in Calabar, Cross River State.

The Maths and Statistics graduate of the University of Calabar stressed that though there was nothing wrong with laying him off, what angered him most was that his persecutors failed to follow the Mandate/Operational Manual used by the ministry to fire erring staff.

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Following his dismissal, Pastor Esang sued his former employers at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Calabar Judicial Division, for unlawful termination of his appointment from the ministry without following due process.

The case with Suit No: NICN/CA/25/2022 is between Pastor Dominion Esang (claimant ) and Founder of Living Faith Church World Wide Incorporated, Bishop David Oyedepo, Adebisi Aboluwade and two other defendants.

The dismissed pastor averred that effort to let the General Overseer of the ministry, Dr David Oyedepo, wade into the matter was highly frustrated by a cabal in the church.

Pastor Dominion said, “I was a member of that church for over a decade before training to become a pastor. At least, I have spent more than two decades in the Ministry. That alone makes me a son to our General Overseer, Bishop David Oyedepo.

“According to the Living Faith’s operational mandate, before a pastor is sacked, he would first of all be queried with a letter and made to appear before a disciplinary committee to answer some pertinent questions.

“Thereafter he is issued with three warnings before he can be issued a termination of appointment letter. In my case, nothing like that happened.

“Apart from the query that was issued, it was followed immediately with a sack letter, without availing me the opportunity to appear before any disciplinary panel.

“The mandate book serves like a constitution of the organisation. Unfortunately it was never followed, probably because they didn’t like my face,” he said.

The dismissed pastor said he was a two-time counsellor in one of the council wards in the Apapa area of Lagos before being appointed as Chief of Staff to the Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly.

Dominion explained that he quit his appointment so as to be fully committed to the work of God.

He disclosed that the N350m damages would help him to take care of medicals bills, settle children school fees, house rent and general upkeep, giving the fact that his salary was stopped about a year ago when he was thrown out of job by his persecutors.

Responding to the allegations, the state administrative officer, Living Faith Church World Wide, Cross River State, Den Taiwo denied the allegations.

He insisted that no section of the operational mandate was violated and that due process was followed by authority of the church before sending the dismissed pastor away.

“A query was served him because of the way he was misbehaving. We are a responsible organisation. We couldn’t have sacked a man of God in the manner that he claimed.

Hearing in the case is scheduled to take place on October 25, 2022 at the National Industrial Court, Calabar.

About the Author

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THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.

Bassey Aniekan, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.

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