June 26, (THEWILL) – The founder of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, has stated that he did not demand any rent from late Deborah Emmanuel’s parents in the estate he gifted the family in Port Harcourt.
Deborah Emmanuel, a 200-level student of Shehu Shahari College of Education in Sokoto State, was brutally killed by her schoolmates, who accused her of blaspheming Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
A few weeks after the incident, Apostle Chinyere relocated Deborah’s parents and six siblings to Rivers State.
He gifted them an estate comprising 14 self-contained rooms, awarded scholarships to Deborah’s siblings and bought a car for her father, Garba Emmanuel.
The family later granted an interview and accused the Apostle of neglecting them a few months after relocating them to Port Harcourt.
After the interview, they were relocated from their rented apartment to one of the estates built for them by Chinyere.
However, Apostle Chinyere was accused of collecting rent from them after relocating them to his estate.
Reacting to the allegation, the clergyman stated that he has 18 estates in various areas where people are living free of charge. He revealed that he has no reason to collect money from Deborah’s family as he has never demanded money from the people he is assisting.
“If I didn’t collect rent for the 18 estates that people are living in free of charge, is it this family, whose daughter stood for Christ and died, to whom I have given that property after signing documents and handing it over, from whom I will ask for rent?
“God will not forgive me if I ask them for rent. They went through a lot of trauma when their daughter died. So, I sent it to their family.
“My intervention saved this nation from religious crisis. People, enemies should not try to manipulate anybody,” Apostle Chinyere said.
He also stated that after Deborah’s family arrived in Port Harcourt, he went personally to pick them up at the airport and they went straight to the estate he wanted to give to them.
“The estate was empty. There was no one there. And considering what they have gone through, it will be wicked to put them alone in their estate.
“So, I had to rent a house for them. Then, when tenants start renting the estate, they can now move in as well. So, I only paid one year for the rented apartment and furnished it for them so that they could have neighbours.
“Then somebody went and interviewed them and wrote that OPM promised to gift them an estate but he went and rented a house for them. It is not true.
“As I am talking with you, they are living inside their estate with their tenants. It has 14 self-contained units valued at N100,000 each. And they collect yearly N840,000 for rent. So, I have never collected one kobo from them.”
Corroborating what Apostle Chinyere said, Deborah’s father, Garba, also revealed he and his family are already living in the estate and collecting rent from their tenants.
“I have been living in the estate and I have collected over N800,000 from my tenants. We are okay here and there is no problem,” he stated.
