77-year-old Funmilayo said Olukoya promised to release her son only if he could admit to committing an offence which he knew nothing about.
Funmilayo Jimoh, the mother of Femi Jimoh, who identified himself as a former pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry (MFM), has narrated how the church founder, Dr Daniel Olukoya, allegedly used his influence to have her son locked up for nine years.
77-year-old Funmilayo said Olukoya promised to release her son only if he could admit to committing an offence which he knew nothing about.
Pastor Jimoh had accused the church of being behind his incarceration for nine years without trial, over alleged armed robbery.
Jimoh, who made this known during an interview on Yoruba Gidi TV, alleged that his trial started when he met the chief security officer of Olukoya at a native doctor's house.
He said he was beaten and handcuffed while a Divisional Police Officer shot him in the leg.
According to him, his mother and sister went to beg Olukoya on his behalf but he told them that he would be released only if he pleaded guilty in court.
His aged mother, Funmilayo, in an interview on Yoruba Gidi TV, narrated how the MFM General Overseer, refused to have her son released despite begging him.
She said she lost her husband in the process, after which she involved herself in ‘dry fasting’ for days and prayed naked every day and night for her son to regain his freedom.
She said, "We went to meet Olukoya at Onikan, we begged him to please forgive Pastor Femi. I started singing that the God of Olukoya should have mercy on me while I held his leg. I begged him to have mercy on me, and that he should not allow my son to die in prison.
"He said, ‘Mama, you are Yoruba right?’ I said yes. He said, ‘If Pastor Femi can agree that he committed the offence which he knows nothing about, I will let him go.’ I told him that I had been in this life before him, and had not heard anything like that, so I informed him that I couldn't tell my son that.
"I lost my husband in the process. After that, I involved myself in dry fasting for days and prayed naked every day and night for my son to regain his freedom.
"I refused to leave the church, I cried whenever my son’s name was mentioned in the church. My son's wife dropped the only child she had with him and ran away.”
"All the people I worked with used their money to buy houses but I spent mine on the court case. I’m begging Nigerians to please come my son's aide, he needs help," she added. #RevolutionNow convener Omoyele Sowore on Thursday called on the Nigeria Police Force to immediately arrest and prosecute Olukoya for allegedly influencing the incarceration of Femi Jimoh for nine years without trial.
The former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, in a series of posts on his social media handle, said the alleged atrocities committed by the MFM church leadership, the collusion between the church leadership and the police and others working with them was enough reason to set up a national police abuse commission of inquiry, such that all the people mentioned in the video would be brought to justice.
Sowore described the interview as heavy, adding that not a shred of it is a lie.
Efforts made by SaharaReporters to speak with the spokesman for the MFM, Mr Collins Edomaruse failed.
Meanwhile, a publication released on a local news site on Wednesday, which reportedly originated from the legal representatives of MFM, said it was realised that MFM did not frame Pastor Femi Jimoh nor was he jailed by the ministry. It claimed that they found out that he was prosecuted by the Nigerian police for a crime he committed.
The statement read in part, "I woke up to a trending story of one so-called Femi Jimoh claiming that MFM or rather Dr D. K. Olukoya put him behind bars for nine years.
"The most annoying part is that uncanny people who have no shame, the so-called detractors of the ministry that are facing legal problem are shamelessly and obviously making a hill out of this mole, people like Maureen Badejo and Funke Ashekun who are yet to pay what they owe the ministry from their judgements in court.
"Our attention was drawn to an interview from one Mr. Oluwafemi Jimoh via a YouTube platform wherein he alleged among other things that he was framed up by MFM and jailed for nine years.
"After our tedious investigation we opted to set the record straight for the general public, we realized that that MFM did not frame up this fellow neither was he jailed by the ministry. We found out that he was prosecuted by the Nigeria police for a crime he committed.
"After speaking to a few people over this matter we were informed that Mr. Femi Jimoh who was once a pastor of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries was summoned to the headquarters from the branch he presided upon because of his unruly conduct and all manners of infractions he exhibited against the rules and ethics of the ministry for disciplinary purpose.
"While he was supposed to be serving his rehabilitative discipline at the HQ, he plotted with a group of people to rob the church offerings, sometime in the year 2000. This insidious plan was to be deadly since they had plan to use a gun for their heinous mission, but in the act of hiring a gun, somehow God exposed them and the matter was reported to the Nigeria Police
"The prosecution of the matter took about 8 years of which he was in the prison of the Nigerian police, after which, he was let go on technical grounds. We gathered that he thereafter went to the National Industrial Court to sue the ministry, claiming damages of 500 million Naira and above for malicious prosecution and all sorts
"But it’s obvious that the honorable court saw through his lies and disagreed with Femi Jimoh on the grounds that MFM was not responsible for his detention, and upon further findings from the court he was not granted the damages, he prayed for except for his salary owed for the period he was in prison."
"In all conclusion Femi Jimoh committed a crime and was in the prison of the Nigerian police for all these years because of the nature of the matter that was in court, this has nothing to do with MFM or Dr DK Olukoya as being pushed around on the Internet, especially by people like Funke Ashekun and Maureen Badejo who are supporting and garnishing the story of a criminal or are you thieves because it takes a thief to support a thief?" the statement added.
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