Ashekun, a former member of the church (headquarters) in Lagos State was also accused of interfering with the ministry, business and reputation of the church by posting different kind of negative videos against Olukoya.
The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry in Nevada, United States, on behalf of the General Overseer of the church, Daniel Olukoya, has instituted a $75,000 suit against a Nigerian social media influencer and YouTuber Mrs. Funke Ashekun over alleged defamatory postings and video contents.
Ashekun, a former member of the church (headquarters) in Lagos State was also accused of interfering with the ministry, business and reputation of the church by posting different kind of negative videos against Olukoya.
MFM church in the suit accused her of saying that the police were working for Dr. Olukoya and that he got them cars in their station, adding that in one of her videos posted, she stated that her friend Richard saw videos of a lady that was assaulted sexually by Dr. Olukoya in his private room and forwarded it to Dr. Olukoya in an attempt to confront him and that was when Dr. Olukoya started going after Richard.
According to the court document obtained by SaharaReporters on Monday, the church also alleged that Ashekun stated that Dr. Olukoya sold his soul to the devil and that Dr. Olukoya was a religious scammer.
Part of the documents read; "The Defendant is interfering with the ministry, business and reputation of Plaintiff by, among other things, declining to cease and desist from her defamatory postings and video content.
"The actions taken by Defendant are the continuation of those that have already been determined by this Court to be defamatory and damaging to Plaintiff.
"Unless Defendant is restrained by this Court from continuing defamation, the loss to Plaintiff will be immediate, substantial, and irreparable.
"The benefits to Plaintiff in such an injunction will be substantially greater than the potential harm to Defendant. Defendant will suffer no harm and no loss, while Plaintiff continues to suffer the loss of reputation, ministry, and financial benefit.
"The public interest is served in by the issuance of an injunction against the defamation of a religious organisation that serves congregations in Maryland.
"The allegations contained in Paragraphs One (1) through Forty (40) are incorporated herein by reference.
"To a prima facie case of defamation requires: (1) that the defendant made a defamatory communication that is, one that tends to expose the plaintiff to public scorn, hatred, contempt, or ridicule to a third person who reasonably recognized the statement as being defamatory; (2) that the statement was false; (3) that the defendant was at fault in communicating the statement; and (4) that the plaintiff suffered harm
"The allegations contained in Paragraphs One (1) through Forty (40) are incorporated herein by reference.
"To a prima facie case of defamation requires: (1) that the defendant made a defamatory communication that is, one that tends to expose the plaintiff to public scorn, hatred, contempt, or ridicule to a third person who reasonably recognized the statement as being defamatory; (2) that the statement was false; (3) that the defendant was at fault in communicating the statement; and (4) that the plaintiff suffered harm
"The statements made by the Defendant are false, as she has accused MOFMM and its leadership of heinous crimes like murder, molestation and kidnapping without proof or corroboration but with actual malice to injure the hard earned and hard built reputation of the Church and its leadership.
"The statements made by the Defendant are distributed across a variety of social media platforms and the internet at large, where the Defendant has garnered thousands of subscribers who agree with everything she says, even when they are false, misleading and defamatory.
"The statements made by the Defendant are purposefully designed to defame MOFMM and its leadership with the main aim of influencing members to leave the Church as well as to encourage others to go down the path of defaming the Church and its leadership for social media attention.
"The statements made by the Defendant against MOFMM and its leadership are made with the intention of exposing the Church and its leadership to public scorn, hatred, contempt to its members and the public at large.
"The Defendant has misinformation and defamatory statements to a larger audience which has affected the growth and financial stability of the Church.
"Plaintiffs have suffered provable damages in the form of losing members from the Church, the subsequent revenue from said lost members towards the expansion of the Church, the cost of legal actions, as well as the irreparable stain to the reputation and character of the Church and its leadership.
"WHEREFORE, Plaintiff MOUNTAIN OF FIRE AND MIRACLES MINISTRIES USA, INC prayers the following relief from this Court follows:
"Determine and adjudicate the rights and liabilities of the parties with respect to Defendant's right to broadcast and publish defamatory content about Plaintiff; and
"Issue a Preliminary Injunction to prevent Defendant from publishing defamatory content against Plaintiff during the course of this litigation; and
"Issue a Permanent Injunction to prevent Defendant from publishing defamatory content against Plaintiff; and
"Issue a Permanent Injunction to prevent Defendant from maintaining existing posts with defamatory content against Plaintiff; and
"Award compensatory damages in favor of the Plaintiff in an amount over $75,000.00; and
"Award punitive damages in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendant; and
"That Plaintiff be awarded the costs of this litigation, including an award of attorney fees; and
"For any such other relief as the nature of this case may require."
However, Funke Ashekun told SaharaReporters on Monday that MFM Nevada was hiding the culprit which she described as disgrace to the body of Christ, adding that Olukoya must be subpoenaed to appear before the court and defend himself.
She said; "Nevada is hiding the culprit behind the curtain and this is a disgrace to the body of Christ. Olukoya is a necessary party in this case so why is he not included as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"Olukoya is the one I’ve been playing his voice note on my shows where he is clearly heard conniving with the police to commit a crime against members. It is Olukoya I accused of sexually assaulting one of his members and recording her in the process.
"MFM Nevada is a non profit organization . It is an artificial person in this lawsuit and cannot talk in a voice note or sexually molest a woman.
"Olukoya must be subpoenaed to appear before the court and defend himself. He can’t keep on using his branches all over the world to harass and oppress those who are crying out against his crimes against women and members in general."
A Baltimore County Circuit Court in the US had awarded $50,000 in damages against Mrs. Ashekun for defaming Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries in the US.