Pastor held for drug trafficking not on our payroll-Church authority

A senior pastor with Gospel Faith Mission International has revealed that the 43-year-old pastor Daniel Lanre Akintola, who was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), allegedly for trafficking heroin as he was returning from ministers’ conference in Uganda, is not a full pastor with the church.

The senior pastor, who spoke with our correspondent at the church’s headquarters along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, on condition of anonymity, said he had never seen the name of Akintola on the pay-roll of the pastors in the church. This was even as the church’s top hierarchy in a press release insisted that NDLEA should embark on proper investigation.

The senior pastor said: “I read about it on the internet, basically your newspaper. But I don’t think we know him here as our full time pastor. The church is subdivided into regions, the region into districts and the districts into assemblies. It’s possible his district or assembly had organized a conference without the knowledge of the headquarters. The statement by the authority of the church confirmed that he is not our pastor.”

Akintola was found with 1.978kg of heroin concealed in a false bottom of his luggage. Akintola was arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA).

 Akintola who claimed ownership of the bag containing heroin said that he was returning from a pastor’s conference.

In the press statement made available to our correspondent, signed by the church’s Secretary General, Pastor Ezekiel Ojo, the church urged the relevant law enforcement agencies handling the case to carry out proper investigations on the matter.

The statement reads: “The Gospel Faith Mission International is a church that believes, preaches and practices holiness as enunciated in the Bible. We do not in any way, support drug trafficking or other vices for that matter. In fact, recent reports in the media, linking the church to a particular case of drug trafficking is very strange to the mission. As such, we are of the view that relevant law enforcement agencies should be allowed to carry out their job thoroughly.”