The story has become more interesting as the acclaimed Bishop of the Winners’ Chapel; Bishop David Oyedepo who was accused of slapping a female member of his church and referring to the same action as spiritual slap.
Following up on his accuser, the pastor has contracted a high profiled Lawyer , a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)-Mr. Dele Adesina to stand in for him in the court of law in a case that was filed against him by a Lagos-based lawyer, Robert Igbinedion, in April, in defence of the right of the young girl whom the layer was said to have slapped during one of the bishop’s crusade, popularly known as Shiloh.
Igbenedion had referred to the action of the pastor as uncivil, and a major violation of the lady’s fundamental rights to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, human dignity, fair hearing, and freedom from discrimination. He had also asked the court to compel the Bishop to pay a total sum of 2 billion naira as compensation for his action, and publish an unreserved apology in two national dailies.
However, the matter became more interesting when the two lawyers, F.B. Agbanwu, the church solicitor and Olugbenga Adeboye, a senior legal officer in the church were replaced by a new lawyer in the person of Mr. Dele Adesina who appeared in court to announce the new job the Living Faith Bishop had given him, claiming that he had taken over the case, and would continue from where the other lawyers stopped.
Although his argument was not totally different from the position of the other two lawyers, he had argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to attend to assault cases such as slap.
He said “ slap being an act of assault is outside the provisions of chapter four of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the African Charter on human and people’s right and as such the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The cause of action or principal claim in this application centres merely on slapping one Miss Justice by the 1st respondent.
The slapping of Miss Justice is an act that could be described as an assault which is a criminal offence punishable under the criminal code.
I submit that slapping being an act of assault, an item outside the provisions of Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter, this court therefore lacks jurisdiction over same. I Mr. Adesina also argued that the petitioner has not shown the court that the said Miss Justice who was allegedly slapped by Bishop Oyedepo, is a living person
Mr. Adesina demanded for the appearance of Miss justice in court in order to ascertain whether the lawyer is actually representing a living being or an inanimate being- personified, arguing that there was no record of anyone called Miss Justice.