It was reported in May 2025 that the Co-op (Lee Longlands) store on the corner of East Street and Exchange Street had been sold to the The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) – Solid Rock Parish Derby charity which currently operates a church at 55 Woods Lane in Derby.

RCCG is a Nigerian based holiness pentecostal megachurch. Formed in 1952 and now a worldwide organisation, its objective is to “plant a church…within five minutes driving distance in every city and town of developed countries” with a mission “to take as many people with us (to heaven)”.

RCCG’s website provides many options for donating money to the church. The Partner75 programme offers 7 different contribution options from £0.75 per month (Group 1) to £750,000 per month (Group 7). A message from Pastor Enoch A Adeboye (General Overseer of RCCG), based in Nigeria states, regarding contributions:

“To be a member of PARTNER75 you should be ready to pray for me for at least 75 minutes in a month. This means you must be ready to pray for your General Overseer for at least two and a half minutes every day. Your prayers among other things shall include telling God to give us more grace to do this work . I promise you also that I will fast and pray for you and I believe as we join our faith together in prayers all will be well with you and with me in Jesus name. Amen!

Another thing is that as God give you grace any of my partners can choose to belong to any of the group below to contribute to the work of the great commission and as the spirit leads. I need member of Partner 75 to contribute in the lowest currencies of their country denominations and as you do the Almighty God will lift you up too in Jesus name.”

The Solid Rock Parish Derby charity was established on 1st March 2012; there is no overt link to the RCCG. It now has 2 Charity Commission registrations with a new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) being registered on August 2022.

Both organisations have 4 Trustees. The Pastors are James Egodibie and Mrs Tolu Egodibie; she is also a Trustee, paid member of staff and the Chair of the Board of the CIO. They both run the church. Tolu Egodibie received remuneration in 2024, from the charity of £12,711 – a 70% increase on the previous year.

In 2017 it bought 55 Woods Lane for £200,000 on a 30 year mortgage (interest rate 5% above base rate) borrowing around £140,000.

Its income, which is mainly from member donations, has increased from £59,219 (2019) to £338,578 (2024). In the same time period, the cash balance in their bank account has increased from £2,210 to £132,070. Over the last 3 years it has made capital expenditure of £133,300, of which £91,800 was on office equipment alone! (This is in addition to the £60,891 on music equipment.)

55 Woods Lane is not just a church; it is the Registered Office address for 6 companies in which James and Tolu Egodibie are directors. All of the companies are registered as dormant. Wealth Matrix Limited, which is one of them, advertises itself as trading

“Wealth Matrix presents itself as a UK-based property education and joint venture firm, offering partnership in real estate projects and promising strong returns through property investment strategies”

It is not registered on the Financial Conduct Authority website as an authorised firm.

55 Woods Lane is also the Registered Address for Beta-Soft Tech Ltd an IT company run by Bulgarian software developer Ivan Georgiev who has no apparent connection with the church.

James Egodibie is not just a Pastor. He is a Chartered Accountant with alleged experience exceeding 20 years in banking and over 40 years in property investment according to Wealth Matrix marketing materials

Comment

On the face of it, the story is “Church buys the old Lee Longlands store”.

The building was last valued at £1.5m, 12 years ago. Based on average annual property price increases, it would be worth double that in 2025. The interest payments would not be affordable by a small charity. Its surplus in 2024 was just £16k.

For a church that has just 2 employees, and around 20 volunteers, it is surprising that it needs £145,000 of office equipment in the Woods Lane premises.

Whilst it is not unusual for the registered office address for a business to be at a firm of accountants, or solicitors, it is unusual for it to be a church. It is notable that all the businesses registered at Woods Lane are dormant, yet, superficially have a trading presence e.g. Wealth Matrix Ltd.

Given that James Egodibie is a property investor, then its unsurprising that he has connections with Russell Rigby, the ubiquitous Derby property consultant who arranged the sale of the old Co-op store. Rigby was involved with the Becketwell Regeneration, and the sale of Allestree Hall amongst others.

James Egodibie is not a Trustee of either of the organisations registered with the Charity Commission; he has no legal executive function yet formally signed off the accounts, as if a Trustee. It begs the question over the extent to which the 3 Trustees ( excluding his wife) are exercising their legal obligation to control the financial operations.

Are they aware of the fact that the Charity property at Woods Lane is being used by Egodibie’s personal businesses? Do they know why the charity needs £145k of office equipment? Do they know how the purchase of the new building is being financed?

An underpinning ethos of any charity is transparency and public accountability. It is not a privately managed and financed company, it has a special status by virtue of its registration.

In the press release for the sale, Egodibie states that:

“The purchase of this very large, centrally located building in the heart of Derby city centre will allow our organisation to expand our activities centred around building relationships with people of different backgrounds and cultures.”

This implies that it will be open and available to people outside of the followers of the Nigerian/Pentacostal movement. Is that the intention or is it an opportunistic property investment.

A simple sale raises many questions; the answers should be transparent, publicly.