A prominent prophet of the Celestial Church of Christ and founder of Genesis Global Ministry in Lagos, Israel Ogundipe has disclosed that a bank offered him a loan of N1 billion to expand his ministry’s reach.
Ogundipe shared this revelation during an interview with Ifedayo Olarinde, popularly known as Daddy Freeze, on Tuesday.
Ogundipe explained that the unnamed bank approached him with the offer, believing that his ministry’s size and influence would allow him to repay the loan successfully. “A bank called me two months ago and said they wish to loan me N1 billion,” Ogundipe said.
“They offered me the loan and I asked them what for. They replied that they know churches are getting it (loan) and I would be able to pay it back because they know my church is big.”
The pastor went on to detail the repayment plan proposed by the bank, which included using funds generated from religious activities such as revivals and crusades.
“Then I asked them how they want me to be paying back, and they said when we are doing revivals, crusades, we’ll be paying back monthly,” he added.
Ogundipe also revealed that the bank provided him with a list of other churches that had taken similar loans, some ranging from N3 billion to N4 billion. “And they mentioned some churches who got loans from them ranging from N3 billion to N4 billion.
“And I asked them how they expected me to pay back such an amount and they said those that collect such loans, that’s why they would never stop doing conferences, crusades, and revivals, and from there, they would get money to pay back,” he said.
Ogundipe, who has a controversial past, was convicted in 2020 for defrauding a London-based architect and illegally converting her property for his personal use.
He faced a seven-count charge, including theft, unlawful conversion of property, forgery, and fraudulently obtaining N14 million and £12,000 from the victim between 2002 and 2005.
