Justice
Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye, a presiding judge of the Court of Appeal has issued
an official statement to address the media reports, video and photos showing
where she allegedly slapped and confronted a Redeemed church pastor over noise
pollution in Ondo State.
Speaking
through her lawyer, Okedinachi Nelson, Esq, the judge in an official statement
sent to LIB said, 'a member of the RCCG Glory Tabernacle Church, IjapoEstate,
Akure assaulted a sitting justice of the court of Appeal Akure division on
Wednesday, 5th of June, 2019'.
See the
rest of the statement below....
In the
past 48 hours the social media has been awash with the fake and concocted story
of how Honourable Justice O.F. Omoleye, J.C.A. purportedly invaded the Redeemed
Christian Church of Glory Tabernacles, Ijapo Estate, Akure on the 5th of June,
2019 during a church Service.
The fake
news further stated that the Honourable Justice attacked an aged woman who
fainted and was rushed to the hospital for treatment. Nothing can be farther
than the truth. The church in question
is illegally built on a canal right beside the residence of the Honourable
Justice where she has been living since 1984 before the foundation of the
church was laid.
Ever
since the emergence of the said Redeemed Church in Ijapo Estate, which is
largely a residential estate, it has constituted unabated nuisance to the
annoyance of the entire neighbourhood. The honourable Justice through her
solicitors in a letter dated 22nd of May, 2019 and addressed to the General
Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, complained about the noise
and environmental nuisance constituted by the church.
The said
letter unequivocally stated that such noise amounted to a breach of the
honourable Justice’s right to quiet possession/ enjoyment of her property. The
said judge, who is a widow of almost 30 years, has had continued engagements
with the church (which is situated on an illegally acquired plot beside her
property) in relation to the constant disturbance of peace both during the
daytime and at nighttime every day of the week.
Despite
various attempts to mediate peace terms with the church, the church failed
severally to keep its side of agreements made. The Justice’s lawyer informed
the church of the court action initiated against them on the public disturbance
issue, and hence the church Pastorate and Members have been jittery.
In
response to the her Lordship’s Solicitors letter, Pastor Dele Oyesola,
Pastor-in-Charge of the RCCG, Ondo Province wrote a letter delivered on 6th of
June, 2019 at the office of His Lordship’s Solicitors requested for date, time
and venue for a meeting between the Church and the said Solicitors in respect
of the acts of nuisance complained of. It is pertinent to note that in the
letter written on behalf of the church, no reference was made to any of the
allegations contained in the fake news being circulated by the church.
On the
day in question, the Honourable Justice intended to have a peaceful stay at
home but the usual nuisance and uncontrolled noise from the church would not
allow her. On the instruction of her lawyer and in furtherance of her intention
to gather evidence to present to Pastor Dele Oyesola, Pastor-in-Charge of the
RCCG, Ondo Province at the meeting he proposed, the Honourable Justice, decided
to take pictures of wares displayed for sale along and on her property ,
suddenly, one of the church members attacked her from behind, punched her and
broke her phone. It took the
intervention of her orderly to prevent them from injuring her. The other
members came out in their troops cursing her and threatening to attack her.
It is
unfortunate that a renowned church like the RCCG would go to extent to sponsor
fake news against a sitting Justice of the Court of Appeal who has done nothing
wrong but to ask that she be allowed to live in peace. We are all not oblivious
of the nuisance that churches and other places of worship constitute in
residential areas.
This fake
story gained traction simply because the church is all out to harass and bully
her. Rather than continue in this
campaign of calumny against her, the RCCG should purge itself of the unabated
nuisance particularly because the entire Ijapo Estate residents are tired.
Signed
Okedinachi
Nelson, Esq
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