By 
Founder and pastor of Lagos based Household of God Church, Chris Okotie, appeared wooed by the coronavirus conspiracy theories targeting US billionaire and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates.
In an 80-minute video released early Sunday on YouTube, Okotie accused Gates of leading a global conspiracy to destabilize the world economy and execute a satanic agenda against the Church.
The flamboyant prosperity pastor claimed that “the Covid-19 pandemic was a bizarre project conceived by the billionaire, in association with some powerful elements in the multilateral institutions, supported by key leaders of governments around the world to achieve sinister objectives.”
Gates is the target of conspiracy theories thriving online and accusing him of starting the virus outbreak. Gates who has invested massively in the global health industry, has been warning, over a decade, about the lack of preparation and systems in place to deal with infectious disease threats that could lead to a pandemic.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak now a global pandemic, coronavirus conspiracy theories targeting the billionaire philanthropist are gaining wild traction online.
Gates, who has pledged $250 million to efforts at fighting the pandemic, has remained at the centre of what the World Health Organization (WHO) called an “infodemic”- misinformation fanned by panic and confusion about the virus. WHO has warned that “infodemic” may undermine the global confidence-building required to fight the virus.
One report notes” “doctored photos and fabricated news articles crafted by conspiracy theorists—shared thousands of times on social media platforms and messaging apps, in various languages—have gone as far as accusing the Microsoft founder of creating the outbreak.”
While condemning Gates for his alleged role in the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Okotie said the satanic objectives for the “bizarre project” include:“a systematic reduction of the world population through the increasing Covid-19 deaths; enforcement of a global lockdown to ruin the economies of nations and impoverish the people and frustrate true worship of the Living God.”
Okotie is home with another famous Nigerian clergyman and prosperity preacher: Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of LoveWorld Incorporated (also known as Christ Embassy).
Oyakhilome has made similar claims for which his church was recently sanctioned in UK by the media regulator Ofcom. The British regulator had imposed sanctions against a channel founded by the Nigerian megachurch preacher for airing “unsubstantiated claims” linking 5G to the coronavirus pandemic.
Just like Okotie, the LoveWorld founder has also alleged that the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine will be used as a ruse to enthrone a “new world order” led by the anti-Christ.
Religious centres have remained closed in most of Nigeria. Many religious leaders, particularly Pentecostal church founders, have pushed back against government lockdowns.
