by Hauwa Gambo

Some things are stranger than fiction – in this case, a flambuoyant pastor and a sick actor (and national treasure) are fighting over the matter of a fake healing.

It started with a YouTube video, purportedly showing Pastor Sign Fireman of the Perfect Christianity Ministry (who has been known to advertise ‘the hottest babes come to my church’) healing the very ill (of a stroke) veteran actor, Enebeli Elebuwa who was seen on his feet.

But last week, the actor spoke from his hospital bed in Abuja, and he says: the pastor is a liar.

According to Vanguard:

The last may not have been heard about the controversial healing of ailing veteran actor, Enebeli Enebuwa who has been down with stroke for more than a year now by the general overseer of Perfect Christianity Ministry, Surulere, Pastor Sign Fireman.

Enebeli, last week still on his sickbed debunked the news making the rounds that he has received his healing, courtesy of the controversial pastor.

Reacting to the story, the ailing actor, who is still on admission in an  Abuja hospital admitted that he visited the man of God. But he maintained that despite the visit, his condition didn’t improve as captured in the video allegedly released on Youtube by the pastor.

Pastor Fireman, however, isn’t letting this go with a dose of Christian charity. He held a press conference last week to clear the air, and tell his own side to the story:

“Enebeli claimed that I contacted his family pleading with them that I could heal him. This is a white lie because I was not in the country at that time he was referring to. If I travelled abroad and contacted his family to bring him, was I contacting them to bring him abroad? How could I have contacted them to bring Enebeli to the church for me to heal him when I was abroad?

“On the contrary, we have a video, capturing where he was begging me to pray for him on the day he was brought to the church but I ignored him. The video also captured how I gave him my reason that when he had a similar ailment in 2010, and came to my church, I prayed for him and told him to go through our programme which  he didn’t deem necessary to do.

“The video capture him explaining that after God used me to heal him, he travelled to Benin to shoot a movie. I still refused to pray for him. When I saw him crying and begging, I couldn’t bear it anymore, as I was moved to minister unto him.

“However, unlike the video on YouTube, our video captured  Enebeli walking without any aid. This again showed that the old man was lying, because a national newspaper on June 1, reported that Enebeli told them two people were holding his legs. Watch our video and tell me if anybody held his legs. We also have pictures to buttress our claims.

“Our video also showed where I told him about the importance of continuity in order to sustain his healing. Everybody in the healing ministry today knows, the importance of “Healing School.” After ministering to Enebeli, he did not return to complete the process.”

Asked why the ailing actor lied against him, the Pastor replied;

“He knows that it was all his fault that he didn’t complete his healing process. Yet, he was  too proud to tell the world the truth. If I’m a fake man of God as he tried to paint me, when he had a similar case and ran to my church in 2010, I prayed for him, was the miracle fake?

“We still have the video and other proofs. After his healing, he also came to our church for thanksgiving, and even laid down at the altar thanking God for his healing. Was his thanksgiving fake? Additionally, the movies that he featured in between 2010 and last year before he fell sick were evidence that he was healed.

“If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have featured in those movies. We have the video of when he confirmed these facts the last time he visited our church. If I were to be a fake pastor, was his first healing fake? If it was fake, why did he come back after two years for another “fake” healing?

“Meanwhile, on the day of his first and second healing, some of his Nollywood colleagues witnessed the healing. Those actors and actress who were present during the two separate occasions he received his  healing in the church have been calling me, and were mad about the lies he told the media against me. Some of  them  are ready to testify  that Enebeli lied against me!”

On the controversial video posted on the net, Pastor Fireman said:

“We are not responsible for it. In our church, people sometimes video things with their phones. Up till now, I have never posted any video of the healing of a star on the Net. I am a patron of Nollywood. I have my certificate and ID card as a proof of this claim. I know that posting some kinds of videos of their healing online will endanger their career. So, I have never done it before.

“Somebody in the congregation probably recorded the healing with his or her camera phone. I couldn’t have posted anything on the Internet that would tarnish the image of the veteran actor. Since he has chosen to lie against me, I have a duty to clear my name. I have kept quiet enough about people telling lies against me.

“If doubting whether my healing ministry is real or not, over one hundred people, including some members of the Lagos State Chapter of AGN who came for thanksgiving in one of my branches towards the end of last year can tell better. Mr. Emeka Rising, and AGN BoT chairman, Mr. Ifeanyi Dike were present on that day.

“Enebeli Enebuwa’s case is likeable to that of a man who got his healing (for the second time), yet failed to maintain it. At the moment, he’s confused on how to tell Nigerians that he received his healing initially, but because of disobedience, he lost it. However, I forgive him. I still love him.”

Sad. Meanwhile, the actor is still bed-ridden.