This is another twist of the scandalous saga of Chris and
Anita Oyakhilome’s divorce, which was initiated by the pastor wife in
August 2014.
After Chris’s removal Anita now presides over a
seven-man Board of Trustees of the N8.2 billion rich branch, Premium
Times reports with reference to the church documents obtained by the
journalists.
It is believed that the estranged wife, who
accused the famous pastor of “unreasonable behaviour”, has for long
headed the UK branch of church while her husband had officially presided
over the board of Trustees of the charity.
Until now.
The two partners are allegedly in an intense
power struggle for the UK branch. Some of the previously made hints by
Chris Oyakhilome already indicated of such development, as he reportedly
accused Anita of her intention to overpower the authorities of the
elders she met in the church.
Until the recent removal, which was derived
from the documents filed by the church’s UK branch to the Charity
Commission of England and Wales, Mr. Oyakhilome had been a prominent
trustee of the branch since its establishment in 1996.
Interestingly, no reason was provided for the pastor’s removal, which is an unusual practice to the church.
It is not clear whether the reason will be
given in the church’s annual report for 2013 which is yet to made public
by the charity commission.
Responding to the questions related to the
issue, the commission spokesperson Sarah Hitchings said that the
commission is not supposed to know why trustees are being replaced or
removed.
The international office of Christ Embassy
refused to comment on the information obtained, however the
insiders said that the removal of Chris was the result of the plot by
Anita, who allegedly wants to take control over the branch.
“He has been effectively sidelined. The
law in the U.K. does not recognise him as an interested party in that
branch of the church anymore.”
It would be recalled that soon after Pastor
Anita had filed for divorce, her profile was deleted from the church’s
official website. Later Mr. Oyakhilome removed the name and pictures of
his wife from the church’s monthly devotional publication, Rhapsody of
Realities.
