A subordinate of the founder of the Celestial Church of Christ, Samuel Oshoffa, James Aso has denied being responsible for the death of a laborer named Dogo.
It would be recalled that the senior shepherd of the Celestial Church Overcomers’ Parish in Ajah, Lagos, was brutalized over the weekend by an angry mob over Dogo’s death in the church premises whilst trying to clean up a soakaway.
In the viral video, the clergyman was naked and beaten to a pulp by an angry mob who razed the church after looting its valuables.
The mob accused the preacher of using Dogo for money rituals.
However, Aso told The Nation on Tuesday that the allegation was false.
He said: “I have never engaged in such rubbish people are saying, I am an apostle of God and I will remain one for life. This is a tribulation not only for me but for the body of the church which I believe by the name of God Almighty and Papa (Samuel) Oshoffa, we shall overcome it.”
Aso added, “We had paid Dogo three days before that day and he came to drop off his equipment. He had even done some parts of the job because he was the one that broke the cover of the soakaway. He first packed the toilet and still suggested we need to clear the water chamber, everything he did there was based on his recommendation. He brought his pumping machine and tools and he said he was coming back; all these were three days before he came at midnight.
“Even Dogo himself knew that I would never have allowed him to come and do such in the night not to talk of midnight. People are just taking advantage of what happened. I never asked him to come and do any work at midnight, for what? We didn’t believe the guy had died until we got to the hospital.”
