By Sunmola Olowokere
Determined not to leave all to God’s hands, in popular pentecostal church, Seventh Day Adventist Church has dragged two of its elders to court in order to seek redress on a land fraud.
According to an information filed by the prosecution led by John Dada Joshua before the court, Ademola Arijeniwa and Agyenim Boateng Jonathan, Elders of the church, were charged to court on two counts of conspiracy and fraudulent conversion of money.
The duo allegedly conspired together and fraudulently converted the sum of N3,000,000.00 (three million naira only) proceed of one plot of land being the property of Seventh Day Adventist Church, Akure Diocese situate at Oba-Ile Housing Estate, Akure.
Arijeniwa and Agyenim Boateng were alleged to have commited the offence at Ondo State Development and Property Corporation, Akure.
According to the prosecution, a plot of land situate at Oba-Ile was donated by one of the church members to the church in 2015.
One of the elders of the church, Ademola Arinjeniwa who worked with Ondo State Housing Corporation informed Pastor Adeylnka Ogunsetan, the former president of the church that his boss at the State Housing Corporation was interested in the Church’s plot of land in Oba-Ile and he would keep the title documents so that his boss would not have access to it.
Pastor Ogunsetan suggested that the land should be sold, however Ademola Arinjeniwa told him that even if the land was sold, the buyer would not be given the title documents of the land because of the interest of his boss in the land.
Arijeniwa had therefore allegedly suggested to the former president that the best option was that the land should be released in exchange for three plots of land in Igbatoro.
By January, 2017, Pastor Ogunsetan was transferred from Ondo Mission, he introduced Ademola Arijeniwa to the new Pastor, one Nurudeen Agbabiaka before he left.
The first defendant during the meeting with the new pastor, was said to have brought out a letter of allocation of the three plots of land in Igbatoro Road that he had earlier suggested.
The said allocation letter was not signed, he reportedly informed the meeting that his boss who was supposed to sign the letter was not around to sign it.
The issue of signing of the allocation letter lingered till 2018, and the Ondo Mission Executive Committee collected the signed allocation letter from Ademola Arijeniwa.
It was then that the committee members saw a clause that stated that the allocation was provisional until the Deed of Sublease was issued on the allocation letter.
They visited the Housing Corporation to verify the authenticity of the letter of allocation and to request for the deed of sublease.
According to the officer that attended to them, they needed to obtain the receipt of the allocation. He had subsequently called the first defendant for the receipt and he promised to bring it to the officer in-charge.
Two weeks after the request for the deed of sublease, the officer in charge of their request informed them that Ademola Arijeniwa did not bring the receipt he was supposed to bring so that the officer could work on their request and he had further advised them to write a petition to the corporation explaining the situation.
Subsequently, they were called for a meeting where the first defendant explalned that the land of the Church in Oba-lle Estate was sold for the sum of three milllon naira (N3,000,000.00).
The first defendant, Arijeniwa said that he did not collect money from the buyer and that the money was paid to one Mrs Okebadan, who in turn transferred the money to Mr Boateng, the second defendant who was also an elder of the Church.
The church was assured at that meeting that they would not lose the land.
However, three weeks after the meeting the chairman of the Housing Corporation directed them to involve the Legal Unit of the Church to resoIve the problem.
Arijeniwa was asked by the committee members the name of the corporation chairman whom he claimed was interested in the land but he couldn’t give satisfactory answer.
The church made efforts to resolve the issue amicably and Arijeniwa signed an undertaken to make payments to the account of the Housing Corporation for the deed of Sublease with effect from July 2019.
He however failed to make the said payment. The church further claimed that some other members of the Church paid money to Housing Corporation through Ademola Arijeniwa but no plot of land was given to them.
Further claims made by the church was that the second defendant, Boateng was paid the sum of nine hundred thousand naira (N900,000.00) as payment for school uniforms for the Church’s school ln Osogbo two years ago which he failed to supply.
The church said that it has been denied access to the three plots of land in lgöatoro Road because the sum of two million five hundred thousand naira (N2,500,000.00) to be paid to the Housing Corporation by Ademola Arijeniwa from the three million naira (N3‚000‚000.00) he made from selling the church’s land in Oba-Ile has not been paid.
On January 27, 2020, the case was reported to the police by a representative of the church, one Bamisaye Adekunle.
The report made to the police stated that Ademola Arijeniwa, Agyenim Boateng Jonathan and Okebadan Dorcas conspired together and sold a plot of land at Oba-Ile Estate that belonged to the Seven Day Adventist Church without informing the executive members of the church.
From investigation, the police discovered that the said land was sold for the sum of three million naira (N3,000,000.00), the money was paid to Okebadan Dorcas who later deposited the money in the Ecobank account of Boateng Agyenim, and the suspects fraudulently presented themselves to the buyers as the executive members of the church.
The surveillance team of the police station had reportedly visited the said plot of land and discovered that the buyers had erected a building on the land.
Okebadan Dorcas who was not arraigned along with the defendants is also a staff of Ondo State Development Property Corporation, Akure.
She explained to the prosecution that in 2015, Ademola Arijeniwa was the Deputy Director in the same Corporation, and he had informed her about a landed property belonging to his church, Seventh Day Adventist Church which was available for sale.
She informed that she got a good buyer who agreed to the sum of three million naira (N3,000,000.00).
Before payment was made, she said that the second defendant, Boateng introduced himself as the Chairman of the Church Committee in charge of the sales of the land which was confirmed by the first defendant.
She said that the buyer paid her between 20th and 22nd of August, 2015, and she had informed her boss, Arijeniwa and also called Boateng to request for the account number of the Church but he sent his personal account with Eco Bank.
She had subsequently paid the money into Boateng’s personal account following her boss’ directive to do so. She insisted that she did not request nor collect service charge from her boss and Mr Boateng and had only paid the proceeds to the personal account of Mr Boateng; on the orders of Arijeniwa that instructed her to sell the land.
In another twist, a petition was made to the police by the first defendant, Ademola Arijeniwa against Boateng Jonathan on allegations of fraudulent conversion and obtaining by false pretence.
After investigation into his claims by the police, the petitioner, Arijeniwa was discovered to have conspired with Boateng Jonathan.
Hearing in the case which was slated for October 27, 2021 could not go on and an adjournment was given at the instance of the defence led by one E. Udofort and Lanke Akinrata although witnesses were in court for the proceeding.
The trial judge, Justice Williams Olamide had to adjourn the case till November 8, 2021 for definite hearing.