The Lead Pastor of Hilltop City Christian Centre, Lagos, Victor Akintunde, has said church leaders also share the blame for the country’s deepening corruption crisis.
In an interview, Akintunde expressed concern that many prominent pastors had veered away from the core message of Christianity, replacing it with an obsession with prosperity and wealth.
“Part of the corrupt tendencies that have bedevilled Nigeria emanated from church leaders.
“Many of us have left the message of Christ and are now fixated on prosperity.
“Pastors have made wealth the centrepiece of the gospel, which is far from the doctrine given to us by the apostles,” he said.
Akintunde was reacting to a viral video of a pastor allegedly claiming that God accepts tithes from proceeds of fraud and cybercrime.
Although he said he hadn’t seen the video, he strongly condemned such teachings.
He criticised sermons that centred heavily on personal affluence, warning that such messages risked misleading congregants into equating financial success with divine approval.
“When people spend 30 or 40 minutes of a sermon talking about their wealth and achievements, it sends the wrong message. It makes people think that elevating wealth above integrity is acceptable,” he said.
The cleric lamented that some worshippers now see the church as a place to launder their conscience rather than transform their hearts.
“When people come to church and all we talk about is how money is important to do the gospel, they will bring the money they have stolen and think that washes away their wrongdoing,” he warned.
Asked whether the government should regulate religious activities, Pastor Akintunde explained that churches were already under the oversight of the Corporate Affairs Commission, which mandates registration and the filing of annual returns.
He, however, warned against state interference in the content of sermons.
“It would be difficult for the government to regulate what pastors preach. That’s something the religious bodies themselves should handle,” he said.
He called on Christian regulatory bodies such as the Christian Association of Nigeria to intensify internal oversight and discipline.
“The church must return to the true gospel. We must preach righteousness because, as the Bible says, righteousness exalts a nation,” he said.
Speaking on his church’s efforts, Pastor Akintunde said Hilltop City Christian Centre organises an annual Spirit and Life Conference, now in its fifth year, as a platform to promote the apostolic gospel.
“God gave us a mandate to organise an annual conference where we teach people the true gospel—the apostolic gospel, the doctrines of the apostles of old.
“This year’s edition is a three-day event, and we trust that people will be exposed to the true word of God. When the word goes out, God’s power also goes out, and miracles follow,” he said.
He added that the conference was not just about preaching but also about transforming lives through divine encounters.
“We believe that as many as will come, trusting God for interventions, will receive them during this conference,” he said.
Pastor Akintunde concluded by urging Nigerian church leaders to return to the foundational teachings of the Bible, noting that the church played a vital role in shaping the moral foundation of any nation.
