Activists Wants Oyedepo Stopped From Opening Uk School For Linking Disobedience To Witchcraft

Human rights campaigners and the National Secular Society
are urging the United Kingdom government to turn down a request by Bishop David
Oyedepo’s church, Winners’ Chapel International, accused of linking poor
discipline to witchcraft, to open an independent school in Kent.

According to the BBC, Winners’ Chapel International, which
is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission, wants to open the
school at its Dartford site.

“The church, whose leader Bishop David Oyedpo was filmed
accusing a woman of being a witch, declined an interview,” reports BBC.

The organisation, which has its headquarters in Nigeria, is
known as Living Faith Church Worldwide and also Winners’ Chapel International
(WCI).

Bishop Oyedepo, its leader in Nigeria, has been shown on
YouTube slapping a woman and accusing her of being a witch.

His son David Oyedepo Junior is the pastor at WCI’s European
headquarters in Dartford, where the church organisation wants to open Kingdom
Heritage Model School for children aged four to seven.

But groups including the National Secular Society (NSS) have
raised concerns amid claims the church links child “disobedience” to witchcraft
– citing the David Oyedepo Ministries website, which states “disobedience is as
terrible as witchcraft”.

Stephen Evans, from the NSS, told BBC that the Metropolitan
Police had investigated 27 cases of child abuse related to witchcraft this
year.

He said: “There’s a need to be vigilant and there’s a need
to tackle this.

“You don’t do this by allowing organisations that believe in
witchcraft and are associated with witch-hunting to open in the UK.”

The Charity Commission confirmed concerns raised about
Winners’ Chapel International included conflicts of interest and the charity’s
financial management.

In 2011, Bishop Oyedepo’s fortune was estimated at $150m
(£94m).

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