8th June, 2023
Pastor Poju Oyemade, Senior Pastor and founder of The Covenant Nation (TCN), has come to the defence of gospel singer, Mercy Chinwo after she was accused of charging N10 million to minister in churches.
Rev. Fr. Chinenye Oluoma has created heated discussions on social media after he claimed Chinwo now charged N10 million to perform in churches.
The Catholic priest in Abuja Archdiocese made this known while decrying how religious worship has become costly.
Speaking in a now trending video on social media, Father Oluoma berated gospel musicians who demand huge payments to perform in a place of worship.
Citing Chinwo as an example, the cleric, in a viral video, reiterated that the singer charged N10m as performance fee in churches.
“We have made religious worship expensive. If I have to bring Mercy Chinwo to come here and sing, how much will I pay her? How much does a gospel artiste of Mercy Chinwo’s status charge to come to an event or in a Church, it has reached N10m now.
“This is the tragedy that we have turned Christianity into, that an artiste will come to a church and lead in ten minutes praise and worship for N10m, N5m. So if that particular artiste doesn’t sing Jesus you love me too much, that means God didn’t love you too much?
“And some people were asking should they be paid? Why didn’t you pay them? If you must bring them you must pay them because what you are bringing them for is entertainment. We have turned worship into entertainment.
“We have copied the world. In those days, those who composed songs we are still using for worshipping nobody even knows them,” he said.
Reacting to this on his Twitter handle, Pastor Oyemade said Chinwo sang at a service in his church in Lekki last Sunday.
He said the honorarium given to her was at the church’s discretion and that she made no formal charges.
He wrote: “Mercy Chinwo @MMercychinwo sang at our service at Lekki last Sunday and the honorarium we gave was at our discretion. She made NO formal charges.”