The founder of the Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church, commonly known as SPAC Nation, Pastor Tobi Adegboyega has dismissed ongoing reports about alleged plans by the United Kingdom government to deport him.
Adegboyega, who spoke while ministering to the congregation in his UK-based church on Sunday, said those spreading the reports are merely seeking attention.
Unfazed by the deportation allegations, the embattled pastor likened the individuals discussing the claims to “dogs barking at each other,” asserting that they are not addressing him or his church.
“They are not talking to me or my church SPAC Nation,” he said.
The 44-year-old cleric added: “Nigerians are the last people to answer, they need rice, not answers,” emphasising that he does not owe any explanations to his detractors.
“When the local dogs finish backing because they are busy backing at each other, they will still find us here, they will be escorted back to their pages. They are busy talking to themselves not me,” he added.
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Recall that in a copy of the ruling of the upper tribunal, Adegboyega is to be deported to Nigeria after he was alleged to have stayed in the UK on an expired visa.
The court ruled that the controversial pastor arrived in the UK on a visitor’s visa in 2005 but did not leave when it expired, but sought to remain in the European country on human rights grounds. He had married a British citizen.
After the Home Office denied his request, he appealed to the first-tier tribunal, which also turned him down.
Subsequently, he appealed to the upper tribunal on August 15, 2022.
The controversial pastor, through his lawyer, Dele Olawanle, told the tribunal that his church had initiated various intervention programmes to rescue troubled youths on the streets of the UK from gangs and crime.
Adegboyega also argued that his deportation would harm his projects and community influence, which he claimed had been supported and recognised by prominent UK figures, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior figures within the Metropolitan Police.
He also claimed that he had played an instrumental role in setting up a food bank which had provided 136,000 meals for children, adding that he “intervened in the lives of many hundreds of young people, predominantly from the black communities in London, to lead them away from trouble”.
Adegboyega added that he established a network of safe houses throughout London where he accommodated young people trying to avoid gang conflicts.
