Dismissed Shepherd of Celestial Church in US, Odubanjo, dragged to court over alleged libel
By Julius Alabi
The dismissed Shepherd of the Celestial Church of Christ Metropolitan Parish in Washington DC, AVS Michael Odubanjo has been dragged to court for libeling a notable member of the church, Mother-in-Celestial Ebun Enahoro.
Odubanjo had on April 17, 2025 used a law firm in Lagos to issue a notice of retraction over a report where he was accused of alleged multiple frauds in the church.
A Church member had alleged that “using United States funds to pay a Nigerian-base law firm is an act of money laundering which they are already guilty of “
In the letter, Odubanjo allegedly lied to the law firm that Mrs Ebun Enahoro was the brain behind a Celestial group named Celestial Focus which has been exposing his alleged fraudulent activities since he was sacked as the shepherd in charge of the parish by the pastor and supreme head of CCC Worldwide, Reverend EMF Oshoffa early this year.
The embattled Odubanjo was said to have connived with the Parochial Committee of the Parish to libeled Ebun Enahoro of being the one giving information of all the happenings in the church to journalists in Nigeria.
Reacting to the libel against her person, Mrs Ebun Enahoro approached her lawyer who has ordered that both Odubanjo and the Parochial Committee of the Parish should provide evidences that she is the leader of Celestial Focus and also that she was the one giving information about the crisis-ridden parish to journalists.
In the letter with Reference Number Mi20/25 dated May 20, 2025, Barrister M.I. Ejide Esq said that the libel defamation on his clients by both Odubanjo and the Parochial Committee of the Parish has caused some degrees of injury to her name and integrity.
He however threatened to make a legal demand of N25 billion from them if by fourteen days from now, they still fail to either provide evidences to substantiate their claims or apologize to his client, Mrs Ebun Enahoro in some national newspapers as well as the social media .
Recall that Odubanjo was reportedly posted to CCC Metro Parish in Washington DC last December after he was accused of some crimes in the Italy Diocese where he was HOD.
On getting to Metro Parish, Odubanjo was alleged to have led a rebellion group which allegedly attacked Pastor EMF Oshoffa. He was also accused of moving about 121,000 US Dollars from the church account without any proper explanation.
However, it was reported that the Patron of the parish, Elder Pius Adebowale who still has his name on the Deed of the Church building till now, had in a leaked voice note agreed that the said 121,000 US Dollars was taken away from the parish account illegally.
