While Nigerian churches protest the law that gives the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) powers to appoint interim managers for religious bodies, the UK Charity Commission in 2019 appointed one for Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) over concerns about the church’s operations.
With 90 branches in the UK, including in London, Liverpool and Manchester, MFM is registered with the British government as a charity to promote Christianity.
There have been questions over its finances and handling of “serious incidents”.
Adam Stephens of Smith & Williamson was appointed to the role of interim manager on August 1, 2019.
A statement posted on the charity commission’s website on August 2 read in parts: “In March 2018, the Commission opened a statutory inquiry to look into a number of concerns at the charity. These included the repeated late filing of financial information, and a failure in the administration which resulted in opportunities for significant losses to the charity to occur.
“The Commission is concerned over the trustees’ unwillingness to report serious incidents. The inquiry found two alleged incidents of fraud by former employees involving significant sums, both of which were not reported until a number of years after the frauds were discovered. While a small percentage of the stolen funds have been recovered, the charity continues to suffer a significant loss. In addition to this, the Commission has serious concerns over the charity’s Chair of Trustees and his personal handling of serious incidents.
“The Commission also has questions over the governance of the charity. Three trustees are paid, which is in breach of the charity’s governing document and causes conflict when employment matters are discussed.
“Despite the Commission’s continued engagement the trustees are still not complying with their legal duties, this includes failing to submit accurate financial accounts on time. The Commission has therefore appointed an interim manager whose remit includes reviewing the charity’s financial and governance processes, inspecting a number of the charity’s branches and their handling of serious incidents. The interim manager assumes these duties at the exclusion of the charity’s trustees; the trustees retain control over matters relating to religious activities.
“The Commission’s inquiry continues.”
Founded in Lagos, Nigeria in 1989 by Pastor Daniel Olukoya, MFM has thousands of branches around the world.
The Liverpool ECHO published a report in July 2018 about claims that the church offered a “dangerous” therapy to “cure” homosexuality which believers described as a “deceit of Satan”.
The UK Charity Commission had in 2014 appointed an interim manager for Christ Embassy – another Nigerian church – founded by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
