CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY WORKER RAPES AFRICAN CHILDREN and DOESN’T GET LIFE IN PRISON!

Missionary Matthew Lane Durham, 21, was convicted on four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. He was sentenced to 40 years in a federal prison and must also pay more than $15,000 in restitution. Durham sexually abused children as young as five while doing missionary work in Nairobi in 2014.

A former missionary from Oklahoma convicted of sexually abusing children at an orphanage in Kenya has been sentenced to 40 years in a federal prison.

U.S. District Judge David L. Russell handed down the sentence on Monday to Matthew Lane Durham, 21, who had faced up to 30 years on each of four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. He also ordered Durham to pay restitution of $15,863.  Durham showed no emotion when the sentence was issued.

In 2014 Durham worked as a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya, with neglected children in an orphanage

‘These were heinous crimes committed on the most vulnerable victims. He was their worst nightmare come true,’ Russell said. Durham asked the court for mercy prior to the judge’s order.

‘All I wanted was to follow God’s plan for me,’ he told the judge.

Prosecutors alleged Durham targeted orphans while volunteering at the Upendo Children’s Home in Nairobi between April and June 2014. Durham had served as a volunteer since 2012 at the orphanage, which specializes in caring for neglected children.

He also molested several other children and forced others to perform sex acts on him, according to court documents.

In the alleged confession, he detailed forcing one young girl to have sex with him several times. ‘Any time I try to read the Bible or pray, this image comes to my head,’ he allegedly wrote.

Durham’s lawyer Stephen Jones, who has previously defended the likes of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, says Mrs Menja forced a false confession from the Durham with ‘pseudo-tribal psychological voodoo’ and accused her of running a cult out of her orphanage.

He told the Oklahoman newspaper that the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney was ‘shot through with inaccuracies.’

‘The events that occurred in Kenya the last maybe five six days that Matt was there frankly reveal some sort of pseudo-tribal psychological voodoo practiced on him, including confiscating his passport, false imprisonment, keeping food from him one day, delay in allowing him to depart from the country, misleading his parents,’ Mr Jones told the newspaper.

‘I don’t think Hollywood could make up what happened at this so-called orphanage. We’re on the ground in Kenya now. We’re finding out a lot about these people. This place is right on the outskirts of Nairobi. It’s like some cult over there.’

This was Durham’s third mission trip to the orphanage in recent years and Mrs Menja had previously praised his compassion and eagerness to work with the troubled children at the shelter, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal district court in Oklahoma City.

Durham helped raise money for the orphanage in his Oklahoma hometown, including giving a presentation at the Edmonton Rotary Club.

Mrs Menja and her husband – both Kenyan immigrants who live in Oklahoma – founded Upendo Kids International, a Christian charity, that looks after troubled, unwanted and neglected children in a community on the outskirts of Nairobi. Every year, young Christian missionaries from the United States travel to the orphanage to work with the children. 

A 12-member jury convicted Durham in June on seven counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, but Russell acquitted Durham on three of the charges in January.

 

During that time, Duhram sexually abused and said he raped children as young as five in a 33-day span

The letter reads: ‘I took her to the bathroom and forced her to have sex with me. This has happened on more than one occasion.’ This is one of the horrific confessions that Durham allegedly wrote out.

The same jury cleared Durham of accusations that he planned in advance to abuse the children before he left the United States. Defense attorney Stephen Jones has said Durham plans to appeal his convictions.

Orphanage officials and five of the children traveled from Kenya to testify at the trial. The children, who speak Swahili, testified through an interpreter only after Russell cleared the gallery and closed the courtroom to the public and media.

In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors asked Russell to sentence Durham to 120 years in prison — the maximum punishment he faced. Prosecutors also asked that Durham be placed under supervision for the rest of his life in the event he is ever released from prison.

Excerpts of Durham’s confession were read in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Gifford, including a section pertaining to the alleged assault of a 12-year-old girl

 

‘The defendant’s offenses were undoubtedly serious. He raped or sexually molested by force or threat four children ranging in ages from 5 years to 14 years — some multiple times — in a span of just 33 days,’ prosecutors wrote in the memo.

Prosecutors also said Durham’s actions have had a chilling effect on the lives of dozens of foreign volunteers in Kenya and elsewhere ‘who must now live under the cloud of suspicion, distrust and apprehension when they volunteer their time, talent and resources for the betterment of children in East Africa and beyond.’

‘There is a real perception among Upendo’s local Kenyan community that more pedophiles lurk among the volunteers, especially the young male volunteers,’ prosecutors said.

Evidence produced by prosecutors included handwritten, signed confessions that Durham gave orphanage officials after he was accused of inappropriate behavior.

Jones has argued that the statements were coerced by orphanage officials who isolated Durham, took his passport and created the allegations to obtain $17,000 from the U.S. government for security cameras.

Defense attorney Stephen Jones has described Durham, who was 19 when he was charged in 2014, as ‘an emotionally vulnerable teenager’ who was struggling with ‘sexual identity and development’ while also being a devout Christian.

• Authors note: How could this MONSTER violate these innocent children who were already suffering in an impoverished country but were SAFE from perverts and receive anything less than the death penalty?! These children will be damaged FOR LIFE all because they trusted a white missionary worker who came in the guise of Christianity!!!! He even raped a 5 year old! This is not the first time Christian missionary workers have traveled from the West to African countries only to engage in homosexual activities, paid child sex and rape, many of these sexual violations are not publicized in the news media or reported to the local authorities.  

South Korean Megachurch Pastor Accused of Raping 5 Women After ‘Order From God’

Pastor Lee Jae-Rock of the 133,000-member Manmin Central Church in Seoul, South Korea, has reportedly been banned from leaving the country after five women accused him of rape.

Manmin has denied the accusations, according The Korea Herald, arguing that former members are starting “false rumors” against Lee out of jealousy.

The 74-year-old pastor is facing legal complaints from five women who say that he sexually assaulted them from the late 1990s to 2015, local broadcaster JTBC reported.

The women, who weren’t named, say that they were in their 20s at the time of the alleged rapes. The victims say that Lee forced himself on them several times, telling them that he was carrying out an “order from God.”

In its denial, Manmin (which means “all creation”) stressed that Lee has long been “stressing the importance of sexual ethics.”

The megachurch, which held its first service in 1982, claims on its website to have 133,000 members with some 10,000 “branch and associative churches” around the world. 

“Manmin has experienced such an astounding and rapid growth only in 30 years because, amidst God’s abundant blessings, there are always the messages of life proclaimed by Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee, marvelous manifestations of the fiery works of the Holy Spirit, and the unceasing prayer of its members,” the website states.

Lee, founder of Manmin, has also been ordained as pastor at Annual Assembly of Jesus’ Sungkyul Church of Korea. He has led pastors conferences and Gospel crusades around the world, including events in New York, Los Angeles, Japan, Israel, Argentina, Germany, Tanzania, and India.

There are numerous allegations that “Lee Jae Rock sounds like a great spiritual healing evangelist and does preach biblical sermons at his large public crusades, but underneath the surface is in reality a heretical teacher. Unfortunately, information about the heresy and highly questionable character of Lee Jae-Rock is rare in English (though a number of books and websites in Korean do expose him.)

He was excommunicated as a cult leader from his own denomination (Church of Holiness) in May 1990 and from the Korean Christian Association (Han Ki Chong) on 30th of April 1999 because of his unbiblical teachings.

Lee Jae-Rock (also known as Jaerock Lee) claims to have received revelation just like the Apostle John. He claims his body has sinless blood (due to a blood transfusion in 1992). He meets with the prophets, apostles and patriarchs. His spirit is at the left side of God’s throne. He will be the judge on the last day and all the angels submit to him. And he has made many more such claims.

In Korea a documentary video was aired exposing Lee Jae-Rock’s bizarre claims and gambling activities. A number of his followers stormed the TV facility to prevent the broadcast. At least 600 South Korean riot police were called out to end the occupation. The Manmin church had earlier reportedly obtained a court order preventing MBC from screening a story about Lee Jae-Rock’s sex life”.

This article tells of Lee Jae-Rock’s visit to Israel with promises of performing “signs and wonders” and ridding the country of the swine flu. Could it be that this man Lee Jae-Rock has had an encounter with T.B. Joshua who spends a significant amount of time in South Korea? Perhaps T.B. Joshua has “fortified” him with a demon.

 

False Prophets Shepherd Bushiri and Uebert Angel Exposed In Sex Scandal Video!

According to now deleted social media posts- a filthy sex scandal involving false prophets “Shepherd Bushiri” (real name Chipiliro Gama aka major1), and Uebert Angel of ECG church, in Pretoria South Africa and with a branch in Washington DC has been exposed via a cellphone that was not password protected of a woman mentored by “Shepherd Bushiri” named Melody Dzingai  who is allegedly having a sexual affair with Shepherd Bushiri (Uebert Angels “spiritual granddaughter”), to arrange sex dates for him and source pretty girls for him from the church congregation. The post stated that Uebert Angels wife Beverly Angel is aware of his sexual escapades and uses hush money to pay off and silence would be troublemakers who would expose the secrets of Uebert Angel.

According to the now deleted post which was allegedly hacked and deleted by Bushiri’s “damage control team” created by Leroy Elliot, Melody Dzingai’s personal driver; Melody Dzingai forgot one of her cellphones in a hired car, and Elliot received a phone call from the rental car office after returning the car that a cell phone had been left behind, Leroy Elliot knew that the phone belonged to Melody Dzingai, Uebert Angels spiritual granddaughter so he went to retrieve it. Leroy Elliot stated that  He almost immediately received a phone call from false prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s “hit men” warning him to not open the phone followed by a number of warnings and death threats. Elliot stated that he had no intentions of  looking in the phone but since his life had been threatened, he was adamant to learn the contents of the phone and made screenshots of the contents therein and created a Face Book account to reveal his findings to warn the public of Bushiri and Uebert Angels sexual activities which involved young girls and women in the church since his life had been threatened. Elliot stated that he couldn’t believe some of the despicable text messages that were being exchanged between Uebert Angel and Melody Dzingai.  He recorded Bushiri’s goons threatening him and the audio can be heard HERE

I was able to locate a few of the screenshots of the text messages exchanged between Uebert Angel and Melody Dzingai. Unfortunately, every internet source that published the information has been deleted- most likely paid off/bribed to delete the information. Here are a few of the text-messages exchanged between Uebert Angel and Melody Dzingai, his “spiritual granddaughter” 

 

 

There has been an alarming number of incidences similar to this throughout the United States as well as in other parts of the world, tolerance for such behavior in South Africa is apparently more lax than in the United States. This is not the first allegation of sexual misconduct involving Bushiri and his “spiritual son” Uebert Angel. Since Bushiri and Uebert Angel came on the scene as “prophets” the allegations immediately irrupted. I won’t bother listing them, just google their names and read for yourself.  I know without a doubt that these two use evil means to fool their followers to believe that they are performing “miracles”, when in reality they are being assisted by demons and most likely their participation in sexual morality is to appease the demon that is servicing them. My goal is to bring awareness to Americans who attend Bushiri’s church in the United States. Please, Please, Please don’t trust your children around this man or in his church– don’t take these allegations lightly,  This man IS NOT a “man of God” he is an opportunist and a vulture who should have never been allowed to build his Satanic Temple in the United States. 

Pastor Tim Omotoso Accused of Rape and Other Charges of Sexual Misconduct

Former Idols SA contestants Neliswa and Anele Mxakaza have finally spoken out against their former pastor, Timothy Omotoso.  Last year the Nigerian-born pastor made headlines after he was charged for human trafficking and rape and later discovered to be in South Africa illegally due to fraudulent papers The senior pastor of the Jesus Dominion International Church was accused of keeping young female congregants of his church in a house in Umhlanga in Durban and sexually assaulting them.

 Pastor Timothy Omotoso

During his court case early last year, Neliswa and Anele – who were members of his church and lived with him – came out in his defense and even claimed they loved him.  Now the twins have issued a statement and revealed they always knew about the abuse that went on in the house in Umhlanga.

“We have lived in his house in Umhlanga for about a year, it was the worst experience ever,” they said. “We were actually pushed to please the man, we were told that God will punish us if we ever say anything against [Pastor] Omotoso. We lived a life full of threats and fear.”

Sexual comments

It is not clear whether these twins were sexually violated or not because according to DRUM they asserted that they were not sexually violated and that he only made sexual comments directed at them. 

“He would make comments about certain parts of our bodies in front of all the other girls. He would also ask us personal questions about whether we’re having sex with our boyfriends.”

She added that this made them very uncomfortable, which is why they eventually decided to leave the house because they feared they would eventually be assaulted.

“We were made to believe Omotoso is the closest person to God and we can never have a relationship with God but only through Omotoso,” the statement further read.They added that they believe their spirits were controlled by the pastor and they could see all the wrongs, but were never bold enough to speak out.“We were even asked to go do newspaper interviews to protect Omotoso,” they said in the statement.

Speaking about the abuse they faced in the pastor’s house, the twins said they saw everything that happened to all those women who’ve spoken out against the alleged rapist. There have since been 18 additional charges of sexual misconduct brought against Omotoso.

Pastor Tim Omotoso

 

Rape allegations

“The rape allegations were not new to us when Omotoso was arrested – it’s something we knew long before he got arrested.

“The girls would talk immediately after it happened in the house and when one was called to the upper room we knew what was going to happen to them, we were made to keep quiet and never say anything.

“Even when we had left the church we were still not free to talk, we were afraid something bad will happen to us or our families,” they said.

Attorney comment

Omotoso’s newly appointed attorney Peter Daubermann said that he is unsure how these allegations by the twins will affect the case at this point.

“We have not heard anything about these new allegations yet, so it is too soon to tell how it will affect our  moving forward,” he told DRUM.

NPA communications manager Tsepo Ndwalaza was not immediately available for comment. The twins were contestants on season 9 of Idols SA.

According to News24, Omotoso and one of his co-accused appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Monday. The case was postponed to March 7 because a third accused wasn’t present.

 Tim Omotoso in police custody in South Africa

The pastor is accused of trafficking more than 30 girls and women who were from various branches of his church, and as of today remains incarcerated awaiting trial.

Omotoso’s website is still active and can be found here.

 Blind worshipors of Timothy Omotoso

Church Worker Threatens To Drag Christ Embassy Pastor To Court for Sexual Misconduct

Mrs. Brenda Nwanguma, a worker with Inner City Mission for Children (ICM4C), under the Christ Embassy Church canopy, is threatening to drag the church and Pastor Kenechukwu Kanu aka Kaycee to court.

Nwanguma, a member of the Christ Embassy Church, is demanding for justice in respect of alleged workplace harassment, intimidation, blackmail, and libel. Nwanguma’s lawyer, Samuel Akpologun, had already petitioned the church.  Nwanguma is threatening to take the church and Pastor Kaycee to court if nothing was done to address and back.

Earlier this year, Nwanguma, a mother of three, had accused Pastor Kaycee of sexually harassing and victimizing her.

While Nwanguma accused Kaycee, a father of two, of sexual harassment, Kaycee countered by calling her a “loose woman who has slept with at least two to three men here. Her husband doesn’t know her. He should go and put his house in order. I’m a man of the cloth. There are certain things I shouldn’t say.”

Nwanguma had further accused Kaycee of having a penchant for sexually harassing and even succeeding in sleeping with women in the organization.

Nwanguma noted that it was because she rebuffed Kaycee’s sexual advances that led to her being victimized.

She has decided to take the matter to court after endlessly waiting to hear from the committee constituted by the church to look into the allegations she raised.

Part of Akpologun’s petition states: “It is our brief that on April 3, 2017, our client, Brenda Nwanguma, who is a staff in your organization, made a complaint to the Head of Administration of the said mission, Pastor Ifeoma Chiemeka, through electronic mail on the following; sexual harassment.”

She said that Pastor Kaycee, who is the head of the operation of this said mission, under which our client has worked as a staff, had been sexually harassing our client by making demands to have carnal knowledge of her in return for facilitating her transfer from a department with an oppressive boss, to another department.”

The lawyer further stated that because his client turned down Kaycee’s sexual advances, the cleric resorted to victimizing her by posting and transferring her twice, within the space of a month.

Akpologun noted: “The first vindictive transfer was made on January 3, 2017, whereby she was transferred to the Media Sub-department to act as a librarian. The second transfer was made via mail dated January 25, 2017. She was moved to the School Pastoral Care Unit to act as the pastoral care coordinator, thus effectively bringing her under the same boss, about whom our client had earlier complained.”

Speaking on discrimination, intimidation, and blackmail of his client, the lawyer noted that when his client was forced to report the situation to the Director of the Mission, Mrs. Omoh Alabi, the director allegedly refused, neglected, or omitted to respond to Nwanguma’s complaint. She also allegedly did not take any step to address or investigate the grave allegations contained in the email sent by Nwanguma to her on January 26, 2017.

Akpologun claimed that Omoh blackmailed and intimidated his client until she had to apologize to Kaycee and sent a copy of the letter of apology to Omoh before she was given an audience.

Thereafter, Omoh asked Nwanguma not to resume at work until “high authorities” had looked into her case and determined where exactly she would be working.

“It has been more than nine months now since Nwanguma was promised that her case would be looked into. Yet nothing had been done in that regard,” stated Akpologun.

The lawyer further stated that it was also his brief that since Omoh asked his client to stay away from work, his client had not been given any further instruction or information.

He also argued that his client’s salary, since she was asked to stay away, had been unduly withheld for no just cause for nine months now.
He added: “When on April 28, 2017, the situation was reported to The New Telegraph; the management of the Mission convened a panel, invited our client and promised to look into her case after receiving evidence from her. She was further instructed to stay away from work till the outcome of the panel. Since then, till date, the said management has neither got in touch with our client nor paid her salaries due.

“It is our further brief that Pastor Kaycee caused a libelous publication to be made in the said New Telegraph Newspaper against our client. In the said publication of April 28, 2017, Pastor Kaycee falsely and maliciously alleged that our client is an adulterous woman, who had slept with more than two staff of the Mission. We have the instruction of our client to demand as follows; that the salaries of our client for the months of February to November be paid within 14 days.”

“That the report of the panel held in May 2017, be made available to our client through our office. That you either investigate the libelous publication made by Pastor Kaycee or prevailed on him to make a public apology for same which said apology must be published in the New Telegraph, where the libelous publication was made. That our client is restored to her job forthwith. Otherwise, we may be compelled to advise our client to seek necessary legal redress in the court without further notifying you.”

Photo Courtesy Telegraph Online

 

Four deaths after terror attacks on churches in Cameroon

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Two churches and four people have been killed in a terror attack by Islamist terrorists, Boko Haram on Monday 15 January.

The attacks on two churches, the Union des Eglise Evangelique (UEEC) and a Catholic Church took place in a village in the far north region of Cameroon bordering north east Nigeria. A health centre, established by UEEC to care for the community, was also destroyed.

Security sources have also confirmed that the jihadists burnt down over 93 houses, 20 food storehouses, and 11 motorbikes.

Northern Cameroon has suffered from incessant attacks by the Islamic terror group trying to establish an Islamic caliphate from north eastern Nigeria all the way to northern Cameroon, a region of predominantly Christian communities. Villages like Mozogo and Moskota have been attacked a number of times.

A church leader in Moskota, weary of the persistent attacks and expressing the frustration of the community, said people in the region are wary of the attacks.

He said: “It almost means nothing again to us because they come in and loot and make away with our property. During one of such attacks, they made away with several cows belonging to the population. We tried to run away also when they came, and sometimes we just grow weary of running when they attack, but we can’t help it.”

A UNHCR report said Boko Haram insurgency has forced over 170, 000 Cameroonians to flee further north to the Nigerian border while over 73,000 Nigerian refugees fleeing Boko Haram attacks in north eastern Nigeria were fleeing into the same region. A large number of displaced people are Christians.

Despite Nigeria’s Government’s claim of the defeat of the terrorist group, a BBC research says “Boko Haram reportedly mounted a total of 150 attacks in 2017, an increase on the 127 attacks it is said to have mounted the previous year.”

The attacks have mostly been in Nigeria, but also in Cameroon, Niger and Chad, 23 more attacks than in 2016, the report says.

Written by – Hassan John 

Who Is “Prophet” Passion Java ?

Meet False Prophet/Magician Passion Java who is one of Zimbabwe‘s popular prophets who claimed fame by using black magic/ ju ju to perform “miracles”. Passion Java was born on 28 October 1988. He married Lily Tsegaye  in February 2016 (who now calls herself “prophetess” since her marriage to Passion) and was formerly married to “prophetess” Yasmin with whom he had a son named Uebert Java named after Passion Java’s “spiritual father”  Uebert Angel^[1].

 

He divorced his first wife Yasmin in late 2015 and his immediate marriage to his current wife Lilly caused lots of controversy in his country of Zimbabwe, with rumors circulating that he and Lilly were having extramarital affairs which caused the marital turbulence between him and his former wife, there were also speculations of an opportunity to live in the United States by dumping his ex-wife and marrying his current wife. There were also allegations of domestic abuse in where one church member made an eyewitness statement of Java striking his former wife in the face after a church service. He is the founder of Passion Java Ministries,   that was originally established together with his former wife Yasmin, but was renamed to “Java Ministries” just before the finalization of his divorce. Magician Passion has also been described as a prosperity preacher roping him into the league comprising of others like him such as Emmanuel Makandiwa and Uebert Angel,  and Shepherd Bushiri who are also practitioners of  dark magic. 

 

Magician/prophet Passion Java has introduced African Ju-Ju and Indian magic to the members of  Bishop Noel Jones’ church in California, under the guise of “the prophetic.” Most Americans know very little if anything at all about African dark magic, ju-ju, or Indian magic to be able to recognize it when they see it.  Passion Java refers to bishop Noel Jones as his new “spiritual father” after having a fall out with his previous “spiritual father” Uebert Angel, Bishop Noel’s congregation HAS NO IDEA that they are being entertained BY DEMONS!  This clown is online PRETENDING TO BE A REAL PROPHET by TALKING AGAINST FALSE PROPHETS! Java has been in the news not only for his magic, but his flamboyant lifestyle which has led many in his own country to question the source of his wealth as well as fuel speculation about his credibility as a bona fide prophet. He was alleged to have spent over $500,000 in one shopping spree where he bought two Range Rovers and a Jaguar. The vehicles procured by Java were said to be for his senior pastors who also accompanied him on the shopping spree. Americans are cautioned to be mindful entertaining and embracing African magic practitioners! Many are also occultists who go to great lengths to hide the secrets of their great wealth and fame. Java and the few in his circle reached fame seemingly overnight! The use of occultism and dark magic to acquire fame and money may seem strange in the United States, but it’s not strange in Africa! In fact, Passion was questioned in his own country regarding the real source of his “power,” of course he denied it being from dark magic- who then would follow him?  Americans Beware! African Magic is nothing to play with, receiving money and gifts from him could be a vital mistake as well as allowing him to “lay hands” on you or put oil on your body! For ANY PASTOR to invite this man to his/her church would be putting their flock in harms way!  I would caution anyone to STAY AWAY from his “prophetic class,” his anointing oil and everything else, unless you enjoy being entertained by demons. If you go to this monster with one problem, your problems will INCREASE shortly thereafter because he employs DEMONS to work for him. Americans should learn very quickly about spiritual wickedness so that you can recognize it when you see it! This man is a charlatan! A wolf in sheep’s clothing! He is a real con artist who is only interested in YOUR MONEY and YOU, KEEPING HIM FAMOUS! 

Passion Java in Bishop Noel Jones’ church using MAGIC to make the people fall- but they think it’s “the anointing”!  

False Prophet/Magician Shepherd Bushiri Kicked Out of Botswana

 Botswana has shut down the church of a controversial Malawian self-styled magician prophet, who claimed to walk on air, and claimed to have “angels” appear in one of his church services with other erroneous claims that are quite frankly laughable! How this charlatan was able to establish a church in Washington DC is anyone’s guess.  

Bushiri’s “proof” of angels in his church meeting 

The government confirmed the closure of Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering Church (ECG) in Gaborone, reportedly due to concerns over so-called “miracle money”.

Malawi24 reports that the church has appealed against the decision, taken less than a year after he was in effect banned from entering the country.

He had been due to attend a conference However, Botswana minister Edwin Batshu announced in April 2017 that Mr Bushiri – who now lives in South Africa – would need a visa to enter, despite Malawians not usually needing one, according to AllAfrica.com.

Who is Shepherd Bushiri?

• Malawi-born magician/”prophet” who calls himself “Major One” who operates churches from Ghana to South Africa and now in Washington DC in the United States
• Claims to have cured people of HIV and brought people back from the dead, South Africa’s Mail & Guardian says
• Predicted the UK would split, “states” would fight and it would descend into “chaos”, the Maravi Post said in a report
• Faked “walking on air” in a video shared widely on social media
• Told Zimbabwe politician Kembo Mohadi he would get “the crown” before he was named vice-president, according to New Zimbabwe

The government has now announced that the church will be shut for good, with the Botswana Gazette obtaining a letter informing management the “registration” had been cancelled.

The newspaper further reports it was the church’s use of “miracle money” – false promises of money appearing as if by magic – which broke the country’s laws.

Mr Bushiri – who has more than 2.3 million likes on Facebook and filled Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on New Year’s Eve – and his church have yet to respond publicly.

 Bushiri and his wife 

The church leader is known as much for his lavish lifestyle…

 Bushiri posing in front of his mansion and luxury cars in South Africa 

Bushiri posing beside one of his luxury cars

He came under fire last year after it emerged that he was charging between 1,000 and 25,000 rand ($80-2,000; £60-1,500) to attend a gala dinner with him, South Africa’s News24 reported.

How he was allowed to establish a “church” in the United States is anyone’s guess but it is a new trend that should be examined very carefully by the United States Government. The last thing that is needed in this country is another false prophet fleecing the American people. Listen to what is being said about him in Africa

“Fellow Nigerians abducted us and sold us as slaves in Libya” Returnees Says

Nigerians based in Libya are selling their fellow countrymen, as revelations indicated that Libyan nationals are buying and selling migrants as slaves.

This emerged as more Nigerians are repatriated by the International Organisation for Migration with the backing of the European Union in an ongoing exercise that has seen 1,295 retrieved from Libya in November alone.

Since the beginning of 2017, IOM-facilitated repatriation has brought back 5,578 Nigerian migrants, who were trapped in and outside prisons across Libya.

On Thursday night, 150 migrants from mostly Edo and Delta states arrived the country aboard a Buraq Airplane at the cargo terminal of the Murtala International Airport, Lagos. It was two days after 239 migrants had also been brought into the country. 

One of them, 26-year-old Odion Saliu, a hairdresser from Edo State, said she was kidnapped and handed over to a Nigerian, who forced her to call her mother.

According to her, her mother in Benin paid N200, 000 but she was again sold by the same Nigerian for 3,000 dinars (about N794, 000).

Saliu explained that the Nigerians spoke Pidgin English and some Nigerian languages.

She said, “When I was kidnapped with others and held for some weeks, the Arabs asked if I wanted to be taken to a Nigerian and I readily said yes. I was very happy that I was going to someone from my country. But it was a lie.

“The Nigerian they took me to locked me in a cell and told me to call my mother and ask for N60, 000. The man said he would sell me to a connection house if my family did not get the money. I called to inform my mother and the trafficker who facilitated my journey from Nigeria.

“But the trafficker spoke with them on the phone and told them the amount they demanded was too small. They increased it to N200, 000. My mother paid into an account after they provided her with the account number over the phone.

“The Nigerian said if I wanted to cross the sea, I had to pay him again. But when we got to the seaside, he sold me again.”

Another Edo State indigene, Sunday Anyaegbunam, left Nigeria along with his wife in April, as they journey for nine-days through the desert, they were sold twice by Nigerians.

According to him, when their Nigerian “burger” (trafficker) sold them to another set of Libyan traffickers at Agadez, Niger, the traffickers sold him and his wife to a Nigerian who took them to Sabha, Libya, where they were separated in different cells.

“We were made to contact our families on the phone and I had to ensure the payment of N400, 000 for my release and N300, 000 for my wife,” Anyaegbunam said.

Like others, he could only identify the Nigerians trading in their countrymen in Libya through the Nigerian languages they spoke and their accent.

He said, “The Nigerians selling people in Libya are more wicked than many of the Arabs. I have never seen people so heartless as the Nigerians who bought and sold me.

“There are many of them in Agadez and Sabha, who are making so much money from selling their own people. But there are other West Africans (Ghanaians)doing the business too.

“When you approach them and say, ‘Please, my brother, help me.’ They would tell you, “No brother in the jungle.”

A 25-year-old woman, Esosa Osas, who was in Libya for six months, said she also met many Nigerians selling their countrymen.

“You dare not talk to them, else they would beat you and lock you up. They sell women for 5,000 dinars and men for N4, 000 dinars. I noticed that the connection houses were also controlled by Nigerian women.”

All these accounts were corroborated by 35-year-old Harrison Okotie who lived in Libya for three years until his repatriation.

“Nigerians and Libyans are doing the business like they are one big happy family,” he said.

However, Most of the migrants who arrived Nigeria on Thursday were from Edo State.

Officials of the state’s task force on illegal migration were on hand with luxurious buses to transport their people back home.

A member of the task force, Mr. Okoduwa Solomon, told NewsAfriq that his team had made six such journeys to the airport within the last one month to take their indigenes repatriated from Libya back home.

He said, “The first process is to take them through counselling, then we profile them.

“After that, we put them in a home that the state government has provided for the returnees. The Edo State Government is paying each of the returnees from the state a stipend.

They are going to undergo a training in agriculture, poultry, fishery and others to make them useful to themselves and the system.”

Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency coordinate the reception of the returnees at the airport.South West Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Mr. Yakubu Sulaiman, said the returnees would be lodged in a hotel where they would have the chance to clean up before their journey back home.

Meanwhile, President, Women Arise and Centre for Change, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, has called on the Federal Government to use all diplomatic channels to prevail on the Libyan authorities to ensure the dignity of our people. 

She said in a statement on Friday that it was an embarrassment that Nigerians who were treated like royalty in the past were being dehumanised in a foreign land.

“We must build a country where our people have opportunities to prosper and lead useful and productive lives and will only travel on leisure and business and not as illegal migrants desperate to live anywhere other than Nigeria,” she added.

Migrants from west Africa being ‘sold in Libyan slave markets’

UN migration agency says selling of people is rife in African nation that has slid into violent chaos since overthrow of Gaddafi

West African migrants are being bought and sold openly in modern-day slave markets in Libya, survivors have told a UN agency helping them return home.

Trafficked people passing through Libya have previously reported violence, extortion and slave labour. But the new testimony from the International Organization for Migration suggests that the trade in human beings has become so normalized that people are being traded in public. 

“The latest reports of ‘slave markets’ for migrants can be added to a long list of outrages [in Libya],” said Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s head of operation and emergencies. “The situation is dire. The more IOM engages inside Libya, the more we learn that it is a vale of tears for all too many migrants.”

The north African nation is a major exit point for refugees from Africa trying to take boats to Europe. But since the overthrow of autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi, the vast, sparsely populated country has slid into violent chaos and migrants with little cash and usually no papers are particularly vulnerable.

One 34-year-old survivor from Senegal said he was taken to a dusty lot in the south Libyan city of Sabha after crossing the desert from Niger in a bus organised by people smugglers. The group had paid to be taken to the coast, where they planned to risk a boat trip to Europe, but their driver suddenly said middlemen had not passed on his fees and put his passengers up for sale.

“The men on the pick-up were brought to a square, or parking lot, where a kind of slave trade was happening. There were locals – he described them as Arabs – buying sub-Saharan migrants,” said Livia Manante, an IOM officer based in Niger who helps people wanting to return home.

She interviewed the survivor after he escaped from Libya earlier this month and said accounts of slave markets were confirmed by other migrants she spoke to in Niger and some who had been interviewed by colleagues in Europe.

“Several other migrants confirmed his story, independently describing kinds of slave markets as well as kinds of private prisons all over in Libya,” Manente said. “IOM Italy has confirmed that this story is similar to many stories reported by migrants and collected at landing points in southern Italy, including the slave market reports. This gives more evidence that the stories reported are true, as the stories of those who managed to cross-match those who are returning back to their countries.”

After his sale, the Senegalese migrant was taken to a makeshift prison of a kind that has been well documented in Libya. Those held inside are forced to work without pay, or on meagre rations, and their captors regularly call family at home demanding a ransom. His captors asked for 300,000 west African francs (about £380), then sold him on to a larger jail where the demand doubled without explanation.

Men who lingered there too long without the ransom being paid were taken away and killed, he said. Some wasted away on meagre rations in unsanitary conditions, dying of hunger and disease, but overall numbers never fell. “If the number of migrants goes down, because of death or someone is ransomed, the kidnappers just go to the market and buy one,” Manente said.

His terrified family began scraping together loans. As he spoke fluent English, French and some local languages, he translated for his jailers to win time for relatives to collect the money.

Many other migrants flee Libya with similar stories, said Giuseppe Loprete, chief of mission at IOM Niger. “Its very clear they see themselves as being treated as slaves,” he said.

Loprete’s office has arranged for the repatriation of 1,500 people in the first three months of this year – almost the same number as in the whole of 2015. He fears more horrors are likely to emerge.  

“There are now more migrants coming back from Libya, so that’s also why all these stories are coming to the surface,” he said. “And conditions are worsening in Libya so I think we can also expect more in the coming months.”

Even growing international awareness of the problems migrants face is being exploited. IOM has had credible reports of criminals posing as aid groups that help migrants to lure in people who have escaped or bought their freedom and want to return home.

The organisation is working to spread awareness across west Africa of the horrors of the journey through the personal stories of those who return. Though most migrants know the boat trips to Europe are extremely risky, fewer realise they may face even worse dangers in Libya before even reaching the coast.

“Tragically, the most credible messengers are migrants returning home with IOM help,” said spokesman Leonard Doyle. “Too often they are broken, brutalized and have been abused. Their voices carry more weight than anyone else’s.”