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By Chika Abanobi
2021. The year qualified to be called the year of scandals for clerics. This is because, from January to December, there was no month that passed without news dealing with alleged escapades of supposed ministers of God. There were allegations of adultery, rape, seduction, ritual murder, financial corruption, armed robbery and kidnapping, among others involving clerics.
JANUARY
The month brought our way two allegations of infidelity. The first: between one Pastor Ebenezer Otinjele, of Liberty International Gospel Centre, Yola, Adamawa State, and Pastor Mrs. Juliana Daniel, of Encouragement Fellowship International, also based in Adamawa State. The second: Apostle Johnson Suleiman, President, and Senior Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries International and Pastor Faith Edeko, in charge of the Utako, Abuja branch of the church.
While Daniel accused Otinjele of fathering two of his five children, besides procuring abortions for his pastor-wife, Davids Edeko accused Suleiman of sleeping with his wife in a hotel room in Osun State, while his daughter lay beside them. Both cases attracted litigations. But only that of the Otinjele and Daniel have been dispensed with by a court of competent jurisdiction. Found guilty of the allegations by Chief Magistrate Court 11, Yola, presided by Justice Ibrahim Ulenda, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), later slammed heavy sanctions on the two pastors by closing down their churches. As for Suleiman/Edeko’s case, the man’s wife and Suleiman vehemently denied the allegation. This was besides the N500 million suit instituted against Davids by Suleiman.
FEBRUARY
One Samuel Afolabi, a pastor with the Living Faith Church, aka Winners’ Chapel, was sentenced to three years imprisonment by Justice Mojisola Dada of Lagos Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on two counts charge of conspiracy and stealing $90,000 (dollars) and N4.5m belonging to the registered trustees of the church. According to reports by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the pastor who works as an accountant in the accounts department of the church-owned Covenant University, in addition to overseeing a branch of the church, conspired with one of the accounting staff who is said to be at large to steal and to fraudulently convert the money into their personal uses.
MARCH
Jeffrey Ihievu, a pastor with the Assemblies of God Church in Esan South Local Government Area, Edo State, was arrested by men and officers of Edo State Police Command for indecent assault. He was accused of ‘anointing’ a pregnant woman’s private part with anointing oil, on the pretext of conducting deliverance for her. This was after she had gone to him to complain about some terrifying dream she had been having since she became pregnant
MAY
Jonah Agbenor, a 49-year-old pastor with the Deeper Life Bible Church, Ekrokpe, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State was arrested for having carnal knowledge of the ten-year-old daughter of his friend and church member, on consistent basis. According to one Israel Joe, a human rights activist who reported the matter at a police station in the community, the pastor threatened to kill the girl if she ever told anybody about the repeated sexual abuse.
JUNE
A plot by Rev. Richard Onyekachukwu, Founder and General Overseer, Resurrection Power Ministry, Maraba, Nasarawa State, with his wife, and a pastor-friend, Enoch Frank Nwaolisa, General Overseer, Gospel Church of All Nations, to stage his own kidnap in order to collect money from his rich but ‘stingy’ brother, was burst by detectives of Force Intelligence Response Team (FIRT). The three-man gang initially demanded N10 million. But this was later negotiated down to N2 million. Trouble started, however, when, on storming his house, the intelligence operatives found Onyekachukwu’s wife curiously relaxed over her husband’s disappearance for three weeks. That made the men to start deeper probing of the ircumstances leading to her husband’s sudden disappearance. Police trap later led to the arrest of the man, his wife and his pastor-friend.
In the same month, Osun State Police Command arrested a 40-year-old pastor, Adetunji Olagunju, and four night guards for alleged ritual killing, and for being in possession of human parts. The pastor, one of the suspects claimed, had said he was in need of human eyes and palms. In a similar development, the same month, the Delta State Police Command arrested an unidentified pastor and others over the gruesome murder of a 13-year-old girl said to be a member, together with her mum, of the pastor’s church located on Board Road, in Boji Boji, Agbor. Details that surfaced later showed that the girl’s chest region was ripped open and vital organs were removed by her assailants who later dumped her remains behind the Central Hospital, Agbor.
JULY
The Rivers State Police Command arrested a pastor and General Overseer of a new generation church and some of his female choir members for luring and raping a 22-year-old female member of the church. The insight provided by Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability, a Port Harcourt based civil rights group, said the young lady was lured to the pastor’s house and raped when she was invited for a settlement of an alleged issue she was said to have had with the pastor’s wife.
AUGUST
Apostle Suleiman becomes embroiled again in a sex scandal after a Nollywood actress, Chioma Ifemeludike, confessed to an alleged sexual affair with him sometime in 2016. The actress who claimed to have met him twice during the encounters in Lagos hotels, the first, through a go-between, and the second, through direct contact, said she was paid N250, 000 and N300, 000 respectively for her service. She said that, at first, she didn’t know the identity of the man she slept with until she started seeing his photos and videos on TV and online platforms.
According to her, the confession was necessitated by a decision to renew her walk with Christ and to do restitution or penance for her sin. But many of Suleiman’s followers and members dismissed her outing as a publicity stunt. “Insanity has different models. This is the 2021 model,” remarked one Chidi Adabanya. “Until you openly list all the names of the men you had sex with you for money and not just Apostle Suleiman’s name, you remain a runs girl that you are and your confession and repentance is fake and just another social media noise.”
NOVEMBER
Two pastors, Izuchukwu Anoloba of Apostolic Christian Church, Eziama Osuama Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State and Divine Gabriel of Citadel of Glory were arrested for allegedly being part of a gang of kidnappers that abducted one Rev. Father Fidelis Ekemgba. While Anoloba reportedly served as an informant and collected his share of the ransom, Ugochukwu who was arrested in Ikorodu, Lagos, was said to have been involved in kidnapping cases, having reportedly abducted about six innocent Nigerians. In the same month, the Enugu State Police Command arrested one Onyishi Chidi, 36, and Pastor Okeke Eneokwor, 95, for killing and using the body parts of the man’s third son, Chimdalu, for money-making rituals. In another development, the Ondo State Police Command arrested Pastor Festus James for allegedly raping an eight-month pregnant woman in Agbabu village, Odigbo Local Government Area under the guise of delivering her from an evil spirit.
DECEMBER
Gbenga Filani, a popular broadcaster and Pastor of Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) was arrested for raping a 19-year-old, five-month pregnant woman during a “deliverance session.” The pastor, claiming that her baby was lying vertical, rather than horizontal, had rubbed anointing oil on her private parts, and on his own. Thereafter, he allegedly inserted his manhood in her private part “so that the oil might get to the baby.” After the deed, he asked the woman to drink a little out of some water he had given her, prayed for her and assured her that the baby would turn to a normal position within three days. He was later arrested by the Ondo State Police Command, following complaints and reports from the woman’s husband.
One Pastor Peter Taiwo of the Christ Apostolic Bible Church, Alaja Oke Saje, was also arrested by Ogun State Police Command for conniving with his wife to rape a 16-year-old female choir member of his church. According to the police, this happened when the victim went to the church for choir practice. The pastor’s wife told her to go meet her husband in their room for an errand. But as soon as she got into the room, she locked the door from outside. The pastor quickly overpowered the teenager and forcefully had sex with her. The Police PRO explained that the pastor’s wife later came in, and met the victim crying. She told the young lady to stop crying as she had now become a woman. She then warned her never to tell anybody or else she would die. They were promptly apprehended following a formal report. The couple, on interrogation, confessed to the crime but blamed the devil for it.
