Business
‘The untold story of how female gospel singer died in my hotel room’ – Apostle Psalm Okpe speaks out
After a long silence, founder of the Fresh Oil Ministry, Apostle Psalm Okpe has opened up on the circumstances that led to the death of a female gospel singer, Yvonne Omoarebokhae in his hotel room.
Omoarebokhae died in a hotel room occupied by the preacher in Benin, Edo State on April 8, 2016.
Okpe, who was detained for weeks, was accused by the husband of poisoning her wife.
However, freedom came for the outspoken preacher when the autopsy revealed that the lady died of heart failure.
He shared his traumatic experience with Daily Sun thus.
“It so happened that rumours were flying about and people have not taken time to ask for my own side of the story. So, I want to use this opportunity to address the issue.
“On March 18, 2016 at about 7am, I got a message inbox in my Facebook because of the previous posts I made regarding the crusades I wanted to take to all the universities. So, a lot of musicians across the country were sending inboxes; they wanted to join me to minister at the conferences. Of course, those who follow me on Facebook know that I give a lot of young people platform to excel; I have exposed a lot of musicians around the world. And in this country, I have taken a lot of pastors around the world.
“So, on March 18, this year, this lady, Yvonne, sent me a message, saying she wanted to join the conference. I asked her if we had met before and she no, but that she was one of my fans on Facebook. I asked her where she was based and she said Benin. I told her I was in Benin few weeks earlier and she said that anytime I come to Benin I should let her know so she can join the conference. I told her I was coming to Sapele for a conference and when I eventually came, she offered to pick me from the airport. So, she came with a taxi driver and she was even the person who took me to the hotel where I paid. We moved straight away to Sapele. Sapele conference was in the morning. Having come back from the Sapele conference, everybody parted ways.”
“The following morning, on April 8, she came at about 7am to pick me to buy some things and pick up my luggage. We came back to the hotel with the heavy bags and some people helped to carry the bags into my room. Then a friend called me and said that he wanted to see me because he had just finished his church cathedral. He wanted me to witness what God had done and in excitement, I told her that I wanted to introduce her to my friend so that she could minister in his church the following Sunday. But she said that she wanted to go home and, perhaps, bring food for me in the evening. I rejected her offer, telling her that I would eat in the hotel in the afternoon. She said that she wanted to charge her phone for a few minutes because her battery was going down. Finally, I left and I told her to drop the key at the reception when leaving.”
“I came back after five hours and asked the receptionist for my key. The receptionist looked for the key but couldn’t find it. They asked if I left anybody in the room and I told them that the person I left there should have gone. I went up and knocked on the door but there was no response. I came back to the reception and a waiter went up with me. We opened the door and saw a lady neatly dressed and lying down on the bed. I never slept on that bed that day. If it were to be in America where they do finger prints and all that, I think I wouldn’t have passed through this storm the way it happened.
“Coming in, I was on the phone on a very long international call that lasted for about 55 minutes because they were planning for a conference in Louisiana, USA. So, the pastor was talking to me regarding how to send my tickets among other things. Eventually, I started looking into her eyes because I was expecting that with the way I was talking on top of my voice, she would have some movement or something like that but there was no such. So, I was the one that went to her, shook her leg and hit her hand but she did not respond. So, I raised the alarm; I called the hotel management and they called the police. We called the ambulance and the police and I took her to the hospital. When we got there, the doctor pronounced her dead.
“It was a very traumatic moment for me. One, she was a total stranger I never met anywhere. We were just trying to build father-daughter relationship spiritually. Unfortunately, that was what happened. We took her to the mortuary; it was very traumatic. I really felt so bad; it was like my whole world was collapsing. We couldn’t open her phone because it was pass-worded; nobody could call with it. I suggested to the police officers to remove the sim card and one of them put it inside his phone and later called one honourable that linked us to the husband. As at that time, I was already in detention.
“One of the best pathology in Nigeria did the autopsy. I was not at the scene; my younger brother represented the family. At the end of the day, they found out that the woman died of heart failure. It was also shown that she had no poison in her body. After their investigation, the commissioner of police called both of us. For the first time, I got convinced that the police are really working because they stood on the ground of justice and it was vividly clear. I want to use this opportunity to thank the Nigeria Police; I am really proud of them. I did not meet the commissioner of police until the day both families were called together and given the news about the cause of death. The documents are with the family of the deceased.
“I am deeply sorry for the death of this young lady; it was never meant to be. I am so shocked that she died. She could have died anywhere. What if she had died in her house? What if I was the one that slumped and died in the hotel when she came to visit me?
“I am so sure in my conscience as a preacher who will stand before God that I am fully innocent of her death. I have no hand in it; I have never killed a chicken before, not to talk about a human being. They have the right to bring their own doctor and conduct any test they like. She was a daughter, a friend; somebody that I wished well. If she had died somewhere else and they called me for assistance, I would have sponsored the burial if I were not even connected to her in anywhere. It is unfortunate that people went around stating that I poisoned her or killed her to do ritual. I have never been to any shrine in my life. My father was a pastor; I grew up in a very strict ministry background. I have been preaching since when I was 15; this is my 26 years of preaching. I am too exposed to go into diabolical things.”
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
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