The Nigeria Police Force have said that the former Resident Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja, Rev. Dr. Israel Adelani Akanji, and five others have questions to answer over their alleged involvement in a N620 million diversion of church funds.

The position was reiterated at the resumed hearing of the case before Justice J. A. Aina of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Gwagwalada.

The police, counsel, Veronica Bisan, holding brief for Victor Madaki, informed the court that the matter was slated for arraignment yesterday, but the proceedings took a different dimension following a pending application by the defence counsel, Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) seeking to quash the five-count charge preferred against the cleric and his co-defendants.

Akintola told the court that his client was challenging the competence of the charge, which he described as baseless and politically motivated. He argued that the entire case was an orchestrated attempt by a former church member to embarrass the institution and its leadership.

“The person making the allegation is no longer part of the church and is simply out to bring disrepute to it. We are praying the court to quash the charge in its entirety,” Akintola prayed the court.

Responding, Bisan admitted that the police had yet to file a formal counter-affidavit, explaining that their investigation revealed substantial grounds for prosecution.

“The defendants, based on the findings of our investigation, have questions to answer. We request a short adjournment to respond to the application to quash the charges against the defendants,” he said.

Rev. Akanji is being tried alongside Rev. Thomas Ekugbene Takpatore, Babatunde Adebayo, Adenike Adebayo,Oladele Afolabi, and Gloria Olotu on charges of conspiracy, forgery, and criminal misappropriation of church funds.

According to the charge sheet, marked, CR/1045/24, the defendants allegedly conspired in 2021 to commit a felony, violating Section 97 of the Penal Code.
The police further alleged that between 2012 and 2021, the defendants forged an amended version of the church’s constitution, falsely attributing it to the late Barrister Akin Aina, who was the church’s legal adviser and secretary of the Board of Trustees.

The act, the prosecution argued, contravenes Sections 362 and 364 of the Penal Code. In addition, the prosecution, led by Wisdom Madaki, alleged that the forged church constitution was fraudulently used in 2022, an offence punishable under Section 366 of the Penal Code. After the arguments, ruling was fixed for June 22.