By: Lauretta Fagbohun, Abeokuta.

A Ogun State radio presenter, Amodu Oluwasinaayomi, popularly known as Agba Oro, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for defaming the General Overseer of Calvary Redemption Prayer Ministries, Prophet Mathias Adeyinka.

Oluwasinaayomi was convicted alongside two others, Segun Adeboye and Oluwafemi Olaide, who each received seven months imprisonment for their roles in the defamatory broadcasts.

Delivering judgment, Senior Magistrate S. S. Sotayo held that the trio were guilty of defamation, misdemeanor, and conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace, offenses contrary to Sections 517, 375, and 249(d) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.

According to the judgment, the first and third defendants, Adeboye and Olaide, were sentenced to three months each on counts one and two, while the second defendant, Oluwasinaayomi, was sentenced to one year each on the same counts.

All three were additionally sentenced to one month imprisonment on count three, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Magistrate Sotayo noted that while the degree of culpability varied, the level of damage caused by the second defendant’s actions was “very high,” with “aggravating factors immense in the commission of the offence.”

speaking with journalists at his church headquarters in Abeokuta, Prophet Mathias Adeyinka described the prolonged media attacks against him as a “painful test of faith” that, however, strengthened his belief in the rule of law.

He explained that the matter began in February 2024, when Amodu then an on-air personality allegedly used his program to broadcast defamatory content against him for 13 consecutive weekends, accusing him of being “a serial killer, fraudster, and ritualist,” among other allegations.

“He used his radio platform to call me names, making baseless claims that I buried corpses within the church and kept people in dungeons,” Adeyinka recounted.

“He even went as far as spreading the same falsehoods on social media, tarnishing not only my image but that of the entire Christian community.”

Rather than retaliate, the cleric said he petitioned the Ogun State Police Command for an investigation into the allegations.

“I told the Commissioner of Police then, Mr. Abiodun Alamutu, to investigate me and the ministry. I said if I was guilty, I should be charged to court,” he said.

Following investigations, the police reportedly discovered that Amodu had no evidence to support his claims. His alleged witnesses, believed to be former church members, later recanted during interrogation.

“He boasted on air that he had countless pieces of evidence, but when asked to produce them, he had none,” the cleric stated.

When mediation efforts failed, the police charged Amodu and his two alleged accomplices to court in May 2024 for defamation and malicious broadcasting.

The case dragged on until August 4, 2025, when the court finally delivered judgment, sentencing the defendants to jail terms with hard labour.

He further called on the public to verify information before spreading it and advised journalists to uphold the ethics of their profession in the discharge of their duties.