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By Sunday Ani
Senior Pastor and founder of Grace Nation Global also known as Liberation City,Ojodu,Lagos State, Dr Chris Okafor, has recounted his ordeal at kidnappers’ den where he spent 58 days.
According to him, his kidnap was meant to fulfill a pattern of untimely death in his family but God delivered him. He stated that his two elder brothers, the first and second children of his parents had died untimely at the same age.
He noted that his kidnap happened a week before he attained the same age where his two elder brothers died, insisting that the devil was out to take his own life at that same age as his late brothers but God intervened and saved him.
He said: Fourteen years ago, I went to my home state, Anambra, for a crusade in Awka. After the crusade, we planned to travel by road to Benin, sleep over and catch a flight to Lagos the following day or still continued on the road if there was no flight.
“But, as soon as we left the hotel, gunmen opened fire on us. It was just like a movie. I asked God if that was how he wanted me to die because there was something synonymous with that incident.
“Earlier, my two elder brothers who were the first and second children of my parents died at the same age. So, this attack was a week for me to get to that same age of my dead brothers. So, the gunmen opened fire on us and our car tumbled and fell into a ditch. They came there and were still shooting. So, the pattern that was killing people in my family was to kill me at that same age, if not that God has helped us to deal with it.
“I was with my personal assistant (PA), the driver and the police escort. They took my PA and I, blindfolded us and put us in their car boot and took us to an unknown place. I spent 58 days in that captivity.
“Friends, family and well-wishers raised N20 million and gave to them as ransom but they did not release us. That was when I knew that it was not just about money; it was the same pattern of what killed my brothers but God preserved my life.”
He said the kidnapped packed about 60 of them in a room, with a bucket where they urinated. He also revealed that most of the kidnappers lived outside Nigeria and that they would come in during the weekend to operate and thereafter, leave the shores of Nigeria.
“We were about 60 people crammed in one room only wearing boxers. There was a bucket in the room where everybody urinated inside and it was inside the room. It was meant for me to die because on three different occasions, they would put me inside their car boot and take me to challenge the police. There would be serious exchange of gun fire with the police. At that point, I said it was destined that I was going to die but the grace of God saved me the first time, the second time and the third time. And I saw these guys kill policemen in their numbers and take their guns.”
He stated that on the 58th day, the kidnappers encountered Jesus and told him it was time to set him free. “They asked me the name of my community and I told them. They drove me to the gate of my house, knocked and when my sister came out and saw me in the midst of people welding guns, she ran inside to announce to some women who were praying for my safe return that I had come back.
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“Initially, they doubted her but when they came out, they saw me and the kidnappers handed me over to them and asked them to continue praying to the same God that saved. They told the women that they would have killed me but my God was strong and that they should not abandon that same God,” he said.
Dr Okafor recounted the incident at a media chat with some select journalists in his church headquarters in Ojodu, Lagos.
He used the occasion to address some personal issue regarding his relationship. He described the barrage of stories about him on the social media as cyber bullying and called on the government to regulate the nation’s cyberspace.
He stated that all manner of lies were told against him immediately the wedding planner he engaged leaked his plan to remarry.
In November 2025, Nollywood actress, Doris Ogala, accused Okafor of a long-term affair and breaking a promise to marry her.
Ogala also accused the pastor of murdering her brother and burying the head of a murdered unidentified person at his altar in his church located in Ojodu area of the state.
The pastor said that while his media trial was going on, what remained most painful was the fact that the bloggers and influencers were all bullying him on an allegation without evidence or hearing from him.
He said: “It is so sad that most of the so called influencers connived with people to come up with fabulous lies to attract traffic to their blogs.
“Many Nigerians have suffere8d and are still suffering from the bloggers’ lies and most often, they get away with it after destroying the image of their targets.
“Very few times, some of the influencers were arrested and dragged to court but 90 percent of them often go free for far-fetched lies against people.
“Nigeria must find a way to safeguard its internet space, especially to ensure that innocent citizens do not get shattered over lies, demeaning their image.”
The pastor said there is a need for the national assembly to come up with a legislation that would not only regulate the nation’s internet but also ensure that offenders are punished as a deterrent to others. He urged the cyber police to do more in tracing internet offences and fishing out offenders.
