Winners Pastor Jailed For Stealing Church’s $90,000, N4.5 Million

Afolabi Samuel, a pastor of Winners Chapel, has been jailed for three years by a Lagos state special offences court for stealing $90,000 and N4.5m belonging to the church.

Samuel, an accountant and the church’s treasurer, was arraigned before Justice Mojisola Dada on two counts of conspiracy and stealing by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

According to the EFCC, the pastor and one Blessing Kolawole, an employee of the Covenant University, who is currently at large, conspired and dishonestly stole the money and converted the same to their personal uses.

The anti-graft agency said Samuel, who was employed in the church’s accounting department to maintain proper records of funds, connived with Kolawole and others to take advantage of their position as the church’s treasurer and worker at the university, respectively.

The offences contravened sections 278, 285 and 490 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State No. 11, 2011.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Dada found Samuel guilty of the charges.

Counsel for the convict, Rotimi Ogunwuyi, who noted that his client’s action did embarrass him and his family, urged the court to temper justice with mercy.

Ogunwuyi stated that the convict had realized his mistakes, which made him change his plea from not guilty to guilty, and that Samuel was responsible for his children’s education and care for his aged parents.