Prophet Shepherd Bushiri says he is not running away from South Africa after rumour had it that the Malawian born televangelist is relocating to Nigeria.
Bushiri, who faces fraud and money laundering charges in South Africa, announced that Enlighten Christian Gathering (ECG) church is opening branches in Nigeria.
Following this news, it has been alleged that Major 1, as Bushiri is affectionately called, was relocating ECG headquarters from South Africa to Nigeria as a result of the recent recent prosecution. Bushiri, who is on bail, insists that he is innocent and that he is being persecuted. He claims that all charges against him have been tramped up.
The flamboyant prophet has also been a target of South African media and other tabloid outlets in the Rainbow nation. Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, was forced to issue a public apology for publishing unsubstantiated report that Bushiri and other ECG pastors were running sex orgies.
People commenting on our story published yesterday applauded Bushiri for thinking of moving his ECG headquarters to Nigeria from South Africa.
However, Bushiri’s Director of Communications, Ephraim Nyondo, told Malawi24 that it is not unusual for ECG to have branches in Africa’s highly populated country.
“ECG International manages over 179 ECG branches across the world. The headquarters is in Pretoria, South Africa” said Nyondo.
“The opening of new branches in Nigeria represents a giant step of the church which was only founded in 2010 by Prophet Shepherd Bushiri in the city of Mzuzu in Malawi”.
A statement published on the church’s site said Bushiri’s “ministerial goal” for 2019 is to “Double the Numbers” which demands the planting of “more branches and strengthening them so that they do more outreach programmes involving evangelism and charity”.
Apostle Shalom Mvula has been earmarked to lead the Lagos ECG branch with Pastor Blackmore presiding over another Nigerian branch in the City of Port Harcourt.
