In a leaked phone conversation obtained by SaharaReporters, Olukoya threatened to initiate the arrest of Bolanle for the comments she allegedly made against him.
A gospel singer, Adebayo Bolanle has gone into hiding after receiving threats from the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Dr. Daniel Olukoya for allegedly calling him 'Maradona'.
In a leaked phone conversation obtained by SaharaReporters, Olukoya threatened to initiate the arrest of Bolanle for the comments she allegedly made against him.
However, a family source told SaharaReporters that Bolanle went into hiding immediately after the phone conversation with the popular cleric, especially considering the plight of a former member of the church, Ayotunde Richard, who was detained for a week by the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Lagos.
Ayotunde's wife, Sholabomi earlier told SaharaReporters that Olukoya and one Opeyemi Emmanuel, a member of the church, were behind her husband's travails.
However, in the leaked phone conversation between Olukoya and Bolanle, obtained by SaharaReporters on Tuesday, the cleric's comments seem to confirm that he initiated Ayotunde's arrest.
In the tape, Olukoya is heard challenging Bolanle, another church member, for allegedly speaking against him and calling him 'Maradona'.
He said the police sent her picture and a message she had sent to a blogger to him, after browsing through the phone of the detained Ayotunde.
In the leaked phone conversation, Olukoya is heard asking Bolanle if he offended her for her to have allegedly made some ill comments about him.
But Bolanle said her phone must have been hacked.
According to Olokoya, the message allegedly sent by Bolanle to a blogger, Funke Asekun was extracted from the mobile phone of Ayotunde Richard, who was in police detention at the time.
Olukoya: The police has made available to me your chat with Funke Asekun.
Bolanle: Me? Chat with Funke Asekun?
Olukoya: Yes o. You people called me Maradona.
Bolanle: Ah, my own line?
Olukoya: Police has made the chat available. You were asking for the video of Richard's bla bla bla... The chat is available.
Bolanle: Me? That means they hacked my number. Maybe my number had been hacked.
Olukoya: No, it was not hacked oo, they got it from Richard's phone.
Bolanle: Richard? I don't even have Richard's phone (number).
Olukoya: You don't have Richard's phone but it's a chat between you and Asekun.
Bolanle: Ehh!! Where will I see that?
Olukoya later said, "Let me read you what you wrote, in case you have forgotten.
Your phone is not hacked o. Let me read you what you wrote, so that you can know how to talk very well because I don't know in what way I have offended you that you are talking to those who are running down Mountain of Fire, running down General Overseer.
"If I have offended you, 'shebi' this is how you would have come to me 'Daddy, I don't like this o' and then we will sit down and sort it out, not going to social media to now be commenting on..."
The conversation then went thus:
Omobolanle: Me, I'm not a social media person like that o. Eh!
Olukoya: Just hold on a second, let me... Hold on a second ma. Are you not Bolanle Adebayo?
Bolanle: Yes, that's my name.
Olukoya: Ehnehn!"
Reading out the message allegedly sent by Bolanle to the blogger, Asekun, Olukoya continued, "Please my sister, based on your recent, on your record, kindly tell me the specific video where the case of Minstrel Richard was discussed, how he almost lost his relationship and the one with his voice message.
"One of my sisters at the Prayer City church discussed some happenings in the Prayer City with me which prompted me to inform her of your program. I need those videos, for how to watch for permission on some of the things you have been saying. I will like also to share subsequent program with her. Lastly, this our G. O. be Maradona o
Bolanle: Eh, Olodumare (God)!
Olukoya: It's there, ma. You are Bolanle Adebayo, are you not?
Bolanle: Ahh, my line has been hacked! I am in trouble
Olukoya: Your line was not hacked, ma. So you shouldn't be upset by whatever I do on it. Since you don't like me, what then are you doing in Mountain of Fire if you don't like me?
Bolanle: I don't like you? Me that I...
Olukoya: It's your comment I read out just now.
Bolanle: It's hacked o! This number is hacked o. Ahh! I'm in trouble. Jesus! This number has been hacked o. My number is hacked. How will I be... Never! I still came to program on Sunday. Why will you be saying that, Daddy?
Olukoya: Don't worry, the police will contact you.
Later in the conversation, Olukoya said, "But then it was your picture the police brought. You were on blue with a hat."
"A multicoloured clothe, just like Joseph's coat," he added.
According to the family source, Bolanle was visibly shaken after receiving the call from Olukoya.
"She packed a few things and went into hiding. She has been in hiding since then. The last time I spoke to her, she could hardly say anything, she was just crying.
"She is afraid that something could happen. She doesn't know what the pastor could do to him but she is very afraid. She learnt that the Olukoya would return to Nigeria soon from the U.S. and that has worsened her apprehension.
"Bolanle has also heard about Richard, who was detained by the police for seven days and from whose phone the police extracted the message she was accused of sending to a blogger. She fears she may be detained and forgotten there," the family source said.
SaharaReporters had reported that Sholabomi Richard decried the arrest and detention of her husband, Ayotunde Richard, also a gospel singer, by the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, in Lagos State.
She lamented that some policemen came to their house at Eagle Estate in the Magboro area of Ogun State in the night to arrest her husband over an “issue that had been long resolved”.
Sholabomi, who took to her Facebook page to address her husband's followers accused the police of revisiting a petition written by one Opeyemi Emmanuel, against her husband.
She accused Opeyemi of working in connivance with the Olukoya and the police to punish her husband.
According to her, trouble started after her husband left MFM church, which she said Olukoya was not happy about.
But sources told SaharaReporters that Ayotunde is being hounded because he is believed to be in possession of some information on his phone that could embarrass the church.
When contacted for comments about Bolanle's issue, the spokesman for the MFM, Mr Collins Edomaruse did not answer his calls. He also did not reply to a text message sent to him.
However, when contacted earlier about Ayotunde's matter, Edomaruse said it had “nothing to do with the church and we have nothing to say”.