The Foundation for Investigative Journalism and Social Justice (FIJ) published “OPM’s Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere Relocated Deborah Samuel’s Family to Port Harcourt. Now, They’re Suffering” on June 16, 2023. This story was the product of weeks of information gathering and days of on-site interviews with the affected family.

Chibuzor Chinyere, Omega Power Ministries (OPM)’s general overseer, took over a week to put a press conference together, but he had immediately chastised the family in his church for agreeing to have an interview.

FIJ’s report on the situation was conceived when a friend of Deborah’s family sent a tip that the family was struggling. This family friend had tried to maintain contact with Deborah’s family since OPM relocated them to Port Harcourt in 2022. FIJ then spent several days speaking with Emmanuel Garba, Deborah’s father, over the phone.

READ MORE: OPM’s Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere Relocated Deborah Samuel’s Family to Port Harcourt. Now, They’re Suffering

A flight to Port Harcourt, a visit to the new OPM headquarters, several visits to Deborah’s family residence and other settings of interest provided cogent pieces of evidence to show that the family’s standard of living was poor.

Scores of blogs have since republished FIJ’s original report on the family’s predicament, but OPM would interpret the report as a direct attack on Chinyere, who attempted to “set the record straight”. FIJ, however, found Chinyere’s defence dishonest.

“When I brought them to Port Harcourt, I took them to the estate, but it was empty. It would have been wickedness to put them alone in the estate. There were no other tenants. So I had to rent them a house so that when new tenants moved in, they could move to the estate. That was why I paid rent for just one year,” Chinyere said in a short press conference on Saturday.

“As I am speaking, they are living in their estate. They are living with their neighbours who are tenants.”

When FIJ visited Deborah’s family in early June, the apartment was already due for the second year’s rent. Chinyere paid the initial rent, and FIJ saw the receipt. He, however, failed to let the family know that he was not going to pay the rent any longer. Chinyere left the family to their own devices and only told them to return to the mini estate after FIJ’s exposé.

READ MORE: ‘Who Interpreted It for You?’ — OPM’s Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere Harasses Deborah Samuel’s Father in Church After FIJ’s Exposé

“Currently, 18 estates people are living without a kobo for rent. I don’t see the reason I’ll be asking them for the rent,” he said. Chinyere said this at the press conference, implying FIJ reported he took rent from Deborah’s family. FIJ did not report so.

Chinyere also said that he could not afford to sponsor people to study in Europe or the United States. He also said that he never promised Deborah’s brother a scholarship to the US.

“I never said that I would send their son to America, I said that I would send him overseas. Benin Republic is overseas. Don’t blame him, he was thinking it was America. I have told them that I don’t have that kind of money. I cannot finance America or Cyprus, because the resources cannot manage it now. I cannot afford it,” Chinyere stated.

Before FIJ’s exposé, Chinyere had freely used the word ‘overseas’ to refer to Cyprus where he had sent several people to study.

Kenneth Nwachi told The Sun that Apostle Chinyere “offered international undergraduate scholarship to one of Deborah’s brothers to study in Cyprus”. Nwachi served as Chinyere’s special assistant for special duties.

Suddenly, Chinyere tries to convince his audience that he never intended Cyprus.

When FIJ visited Deborah’s family in early June, Matthew was not in Port Harcourt. FIJ confirmed that he had returned to Niger State.

Chinyere brought Matthew to the press conference he had arranged solely to blame his father for the condition of the Toyota Corolla OPM gave him.

It was only after FIJ published that Chinyere brought a car mechanic to repair the Corolla. Only when FIJ published did Chinyere send bags of rice to the family and cash gifts to placate Garba.

Chinyere also conveniently forgot to mention how women from his welfare department mismanaged returns from the restaurant he gave to Alheri Emmanuel, Deborah’s mother. He did not remember how Alheri spent about a whole month in a hospital in 2022 without a single visit.

Chinyere reminded his audience that the family collected N800,000 in rent but failed to mention they were knee-deep in debt. The pastor rode on sentiments that the family squandered the funds.

“Do I need to come and know how you are selling in the shop? I stocked the shop. I gave you an estate, you don’t need to pay rent again. You are collecting rent from tenants. I don’t understand what other abandonment,” he said.

The point of Chinyere’s Saturday press conference was to claim he did all he could and Deborah’s family did all the damage to his good deeds.