Officials interviewed said the buses are used to transport members to functions like crusades. Pastor Ezekiel officially opened his church doors in March 2022 after relocating from Shanzu in Mombasa, where he first established the New Life Church in 2010. His rising profile and ballooning wealth have captured media attention, forcing the preacher to take journalists on a tour of his church last year and insist that he had nothing to hide. They include Dorcas Gachagua, the pastor wife of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who joined him at a service that filled a 60,000-seat Kasarani stadium in Nairobi last December. Though casting himself as an ordinary man without political connections, Odero has shared the pulpit with prominent figures. Now he is a wealthy televangelist who draws huge crowds of followers from across the globe. Ezekiel’s lawyers claim 15 have died in the church compound but the state and the owner of a nearby morgue say the number is higher than that.īorn into poverty on an island in Lake Victoria, Ezekiel struggled with school and worked as a fisherman before taking to the pulpit 15 years ago. Those with no faith have also died on the altar. Some have christened it a city within a city, others a palace, but for Odero and his followers, the complex is a befitting house of God where thousands with faith, even of the size of a mustard seed, have received miracles. The compound also hosts a ‘white house’ - a mansion with 31 bedrooms that is alleged to be Pastor Ezekiel’s official residence. The ministry also boasts of News International School for primary and secondary students. The compound has thousands of washrooms in a one-story building that serve a massive number of churchgoers. His expansive land also has a mall where guests and followers can shop when they camp at the ministry. Pastor Ezekiel also owns over 10 buses that commute to people visiting the church. It also has a four-story staff quarter, a world-class hotel and restaurant, a petrol station, and Sh5,500-a-day cottages for church guests.īut it is the presence of a bank inside the private church compound that has also sparked some conspiracies given that detectives have linked the cleric to money laundering.Īnd to accommodate the huge traffic of people attending masses, the compound has a huge parking lot that can accommodate up to 2,000 vehicles.
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