Oyedepo’s call out of thieving church officials, Okoya’s 80th birthday, Ngige’s confession and all the gist that won’t go away

BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO

The General Overseer of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a. Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo spared no kind words when he took thieving members of his church to the cleaners over misappropriation of funds meant for the worship centre.

Celebrity Gist can reveal that Oyedepo especially called out highly placed officials whom he said are privileged to be appointed into positions to handle the church’s finance but have allegedly looted the church blind.

According to Oyedepo, the incessant and intimidating reports of huge sums of money in different currencies being allegedly diverted into private pockets by some highly placed officials of his church is a big disappointment to God and man.

FLORENCE AJIMOBI

The former First Lady seems to be planned for life after leaving the government house in Oyo State as she launched a book, titled, My Life Like A Rainbow late last year.

Celebrity Gist can also confirm that Florence,Ajimobi  who has always possessed a streak of untamable eminence is venturing into business once again with the recent launch of an edifice which has reportedly added a new shine to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

We can reveal that Florence Ajimobi is done with the construction of Grandex Mall a new upscale ultramodern shopping centre located at number 43, M.K.O. Abiola Way, Ringroad, Ibadan.

RAZAK OKOYA-THOMAS

The Aare of Lagos and Chairman of Eleganza Group, Alhaji Razaq Akanni Okoya turned 80 yesterday and his sprawling Oluwanisola Estate in Ajah, Lagos, brimmed with all the paraphernalia of a posh party, befitting a man of Okoya’s wealthy and influential status.

We gather that expectedly, his circle of equally stupendously rich friends and associates all gathered in his massive estate to celebrate the milestone age of a man who started from a very humble and poor beginning, eking out a living from petty trading, and later became one of Nigeria’s topmost industrialists.

TAIWO & NOMTHI ODUKOYA

The pair of Pastor Taiwo Odukoya and his wife, Pastor Nomthi Odukoya both celebrated their 10^th wedding anniversary.

Taiwo and Nomthi who are senior pastors of the Fountain of Life Bible Church, a Pentecostal church in Ilupeju, Lagos, with a membership strength numbering in thousands reportedly celebrated their anniversary with family and friends at a low key event.

Pastor Taiwo is himself one of the founding pastors of the church – the other founder being his late wife, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya, who died in a plane crash sometime in 2005.

READ ALSO: The revival of Zik’s West African Pilot, RMD & Jumobi Adegbesan’s anniversary, Dangote’s feat and all the gist that made the headlines

CHRIS NGIGE

Former governor of Anambra State and the current Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has told all those who care to listen that he got married as a full adult.

Ngige who was born in Enugu said that the girls in the area where he lived in Lagos at the time did not take him seriously because they felt that he didn’t want to get married.

He said that he was not comfortable with dates, because he needed to date to get married.

“So, I had two conditions for dating and that took me into my 40s before I got married and by the time I got married 1993 I was already 41 years, but it wasn’t my fault. I had planned to marry much earlier. As a matter of fact, I made my first attempt at marriage on 31st December, 1983, which was the night of the Abacha coup,” Ngige noted.

CHUKWUEMEKA IKE

One of Nigeria’s foremost authors, Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike, known for his works including; The Naked God’s (1970), Sunset at Dawn (1976), The Chicken Chasers (1980) and Conspiracy of Silence (2001) died days ago at the age of 88.

Though, the circumstances surrounding his death was not made public the demise of the author whose contemporaries were writers of the same generation such as Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo and Ken Saro-Wiwa, shocked many who knew him.

Prof. Chuwkuemeka’s body of works were known to be rooted in his experience and the social realities of the period which were very identical to todays. For instance, in Expo 77, the unethical conduct of examination malpractice was explored. He may have tapped from his experience as the former registrar, West African Examination Council (WAEC).

FELA’S REPUBLIC & KALAKUTA QUEENS

The grand finale of Fela‘s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens, a stage play depicting the life and struggle of Afrobeats legend and political activist, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti drew a capacity crowd at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The event, which wrapped up a three-week showcase of the most entertaining stage performance in Nigeria, had in attendance notable personalities like Grammy Awards nominee, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti and his sister, Yeni. Two of the surviving Kalakuta Queens, Laide and Lara were also in attendance.

“This brings back a lot of memories. Just watching it I was taken back to the days when my father – with the aid of his wives – not only sought to create a wonderful home for his family but also fight relentlessly for the rights of the Nigerian people,” said Femi Anikulapo-Kuti.

The stage play which was launched in 2017 to portray and preserve the recent history of Nigerian activism also explores the sacrifice made by Fela to liberate the people from successive oppressive governments in Nigeria.

BURNA BOY:

Rave-of-the-moment, Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy has continued with his hot streak from 2019 after emerging as the biggest winner at this year’s Sound City MVP Award festival.

The Afrobeat-fusion singer was the cynosure of all eyes at the event staged at the Convention Centre, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, at the weekend, winning four major awards including Best Artiste of the Year, Song of the year- Burns Boy (Killing Dem), Listeners choice award and Best Male Artiste of the Year.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now