Ukraine police seize Nigerian-born pastor’s assets

 pastor, Sunday Adelaja

Ukrainian police on Tuesday refrained from arresting a prominent Nigerian pastor, Sunday Adelaja, who had been summoned to report at its offices in Kiev, as international pressure mounted on the controversial case, Empowered Newswire reports.


Speaking with Empowered Newswire on Tuesday on the telephone after he had returned from the police invitation, Adelaja said, “They turned me back on arrival, they didn’t even let me inside. They said they had changed the date till next week Tuesday.”

But while the famous pastor might have got a respite, he said he had just discovered recently that his assets in the country, including his house, cars and accounts, had been siezed by police.

Adelaja, who is based in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine, was described by New York Times as one of the “best known public figures” in Ukraine, where he leads what is perhaps the largest church in the country, The Embassy of God.

According to him, he was told at the Bogomoltsa street facility of the Ukrainian police in Kiev that “the charges against him are not ready yet”. But he added that “they gave me another warrant for next week”.

In the last few days, he said while trying to use some of his assets, he discovered that they had been seized by police.

He said, “I did not know, this was done behind my back; so when we checked, we discovered that my assets have been seized.”

But he continued to assert his innocence in the collapse of the business King’s Capital, for which he is being investigated amid speculation of charges of fraud and running a criminal organisation.

According to both Adelaja and the owners of the company, he has no formal links to the company neither did he receive any form of benefits from the company.

Building up to his visit to the Ukrainian police, a groundswell of international pressure had been mounting, especially in the US where Adelaja’s church has local chapters.

Other US-based church leaders, including the Chairman of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in North America, Dr. James Fadele, wrote to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking the American government to intervene on the side of the rule of law and democratic tenets.