A brother called Joshua committed adultery, and then reported himself to the church, and was suspended. It is reported that Samuel went to his house and prophesied the punishment of death on him. Samuel said he "blew the trumpet of holiness". The man left fellowship with his family, in spite of attempts by Justice James to restore him, but one of his sons remained loyal to the Assembly. The boy stayed in Samuel's custody and was hidden away. Eventually an influential brother in the Assembly confronted the Leading Brothers to release the boy to his parents. The boy seemed mentally disturbed when he returned, telling of a "cult initiation" eating rice in Samuel's house which was witnessed by one of the American team. He claimed it had given him mystical powers, and that his "bone of initiation" was buried in Livingstone Academy and later taken to America. He asserted that Samuel gave him an assignment to kill his own father. The Assembly dismissed all this, saying the boy was not in his right mind.

Money was given by the Geftakys team for the construction of the Otukpo meeting hall. The contractor, a Leading Brother in the Assembly, confronted Samuel with diverting the funds. He also confronted Samuel about diverting funds from America intended for Abioudun, a student who who had lived in America. Abiodun had been a gambler and had come to Christ. The Leading Brothers in America sent him back to Nigeria to stay with Samuel and finish his education. They sent him financial support, but it was apparently not reaching him and he had to resort to selling water for money to buy food. The contractor took pity on him and confronted Samuel about the funds. There was no financial accountability, since Samuel was not accountable to anyone, and Samuel suspended the contractor from fellowship. Subsequently the contractor's wife left him, his wealth dwindled, and his children dropped out of school for lack of finances. One of his sons, who has since become involved in an international ministry, has said it seems like a spell seemed to be working against his father after he left the Assembly. Like Assembly leaders in America, Samuel preaches that any misfortune, or illness, or disability that happens to ex-assembly members is due to their rebellion and sin in leaving the Assembly.

After the Irons family left fellowship, Samuel told the Assemblies in Nigeria that Steve left the Assembly because his son was a drunkard and homosexual, and Steve did not allow the brethren to punish him. He said Steve was "writing petitions against the brethren." These allegations are false, as Steve's story shows.

In 2001, the Geftakys team visited the building site of Dr. Sunday Ochenjele's private medical clinic. (Dr. Ochenjele is Samuel's younger brother, and is a believer, but is not involved in the Otukpo Assembly.) Unsolicited by Dr. Ochenjele, the team promised to provide some medical equipment for the clinic, which would also be used by a medical team that was being assembled to come with GG. Samuel gave assurances that he had government contacts to get the donated items through customs duty-free. (G.G. and Samuel also offered to help put a roof on the building, but this offer Dr. Sunday declined.) It was then published in the Believers Prayer Letter that "the Assembly is building a hospital in Otukpo, Nigeria, under the medical direction of Dr. Sunday Ochenjele." After he emailed the editor a vigorous protest, the erroneous statement was corrected in the next issue.

The medical team, which included Dr. Tom Hines, Dr. Gordon Kim, Wayne Mathews, P.A., and Jerry Starr, R.N., arrived and conducted ten days of free medical service to the community, but the promised equipment had not yet arrived. When the medical equipment did arrive, it turned out that 3 million naira had to be paid to customs (about $23,00). G.G. and Samuel asserted that Dr. Sunday had retained an attorney over the matter, in order to claim the equipment for himself. Therefore they refused to assist with the customs fees. Dr. Sunday had not gotten a lawyer. He did not know of this allegation, but went ahead and secured a personal loan to cover the fees. He then discovered that most of the medical equipment was out of repair, and all the drugs had to be destroyed because they were outdated, due to customs delays, both in the U. S. and in Nigeria. The Assemblies and the Geftakys team completely distanced themselves from the situation, refused to investigate the condition of the equipment and the drugs, and publicly alleged that he had swindled them out of 100 million naira worth of medical equipment and supplies.

Dr. Ochenjele says, "I have never hired a lawyer in my life and did not do so during the unfortunate equipment crisis either. I wonder why the Assembly would leave equipment which Samuel values at 100 million naira with me, seeing I am not part of their gathering....I am waiting for the refund of the amount I paid in custom duties, and I will gladly turn over every bit of the equipment to the Assembly. My deep apology to all those who sincerely served the Lord with the donation of the equipment."

Samuel is misrepresenting George Geftakys' excommunication from the Fullerton Assembly. His story is that George did not commit any personal sins, but was being punished for his inability to control his adult family members: David divorced his wife, and Timothy's daughter became pregnant out of wedlock. When Roger Grant was to visit Nigeria in November 2003, Samuel promised the people that Roger would testify that George was innocent, and that he was no longer traveling simply because of his advanced age, but was training missionaries at home. When Roger came, he didn't mention George, but the people still believe Samuel's spin on the situation because they have been intimidated from reading this website.

Since his return from his trip to America in 2003, Samuel has misrepresented his meeting with Steve Irons, saying that Steve had come to him to apologize for writing articles, and promised to shut down this website. Obviously, this was not the case, but the people probably do not know that, because they have been warned to stay away from the internet. Samuel told Steve that the report of George Geftakys' immorality would cause terrible Muslim reprisals on the "saints". We have since learned that this is not the case.

Someone in Nigeria wrote,

"Ignorance is the force used by the spirit of oppression to maintain control. Sometime ago when we were still in the Assembly, Samuel came from a Workers Conference in Colorado and told us that Roger Grant, a computer scientist in America, gave a teaching on the satanic nature of the internet, which is why many don’t use the internet. He brought a videocassette titled “Revelation” in which a computer program, called “Virtual Reality”, can cause a user to appear in any part of the world he desires."

Roger was no doubt instructed by George Geftakys to bring a message denouncing the internet. Initially, this was spin control to prevent people from reading the reports about the Assembly and David Geftakys on the Rick Ross website. After January, 2003, Samuel and others used it to keep people off this website where they would learn the whole story about GG's excommunication and the major problems with the Assembly. We urge the Nigerian brethren to read this website and become informed about the Assemblies. Learn the facts about the excommunication of George Geftakys and the errors, the abuses, and the cultic control of the Geftakys' ministry, perpetrated not only by George Geftakys himself, but also by the leaders he trained.

See also the Commentary on the Report from Nigeria spells out how the cultic practices of the Geftakys Assemblies in the USA have been exported overseas.

Open Letter to the Saints in Otukpo from the Editor

Samuel Ochenjele's behavior that has been reported here is not worthy of a true under-shepherd of our Lord Jesus. We are so sorry you have been subjected to these things. Jesus is very clear how his servants are to lead:

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. BUT IT SHALL NOT BE SO WITH YOU...Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave..." Matt 22:

"Just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith..." Col 2:6,7

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might... You have God's protection with the belt of the truth, the righteousness of Christ as your full body protection, the shield of faith that extinguishes all the flaming arrows of the devil, your head protected by the helmet of your salvation, and the sword of the Word of God in your hand. And pray always..." Eph 6:10,14-18

Wayne Mathews: There were problems on both sides about the medical equipment. What began as a sincere attempt to help the needy in Otukpo ended as a bitter feud. I was grieving that it became that. Samuel initially thought with his contacts in high places the equipment could be duty free, but at the same time, the Nigerian government started cracking down on corruption of officials who were declaring charitable imports and pocketing the customs fees as personal profits.

The only other comment I have regarding the condition of the equipment and expired medications are that the shipment was first delayed for several months by U.S. customs for inspection (paid for by U.S. brethren), and then delayed several more months in Lagos, Nigeria, where it sat in hot dusty warehouses. This no doubt affected the state of the equipment. I can personally attest that the equipment on the U.S. side was carefully packed and tested for function before it left. On another note, several thousand dollars of useful medical equipment, colonoscopes, operating equipment, pulse oximeters, etc. were brought by myself, Dr. Gordon Kim and Dr. Tom Hines in our medical visit working with Dr. Sunday. This was fully functional, top of the line stuff and given to Sunday by us, including training to use it.