Acts Of Some ‘Apostles’

•How creepy clerics commit sexual sins, murder, kidnapping, preach sacrilege in God’s name

By Henry Umahi, The Sun

Pastors’ tragic sex romps

Sometime in August 2023, a certain Pastor Timothy Otu of the Agape Evangelical Ministry, Abia State embarked on a special mission with Happiness Echieze, a 43-year-old married female evangelist attached to a Pentecostal church.

It was not a soul-winning crusade. It was a libidinous mission that ended disastrously.

It was alleged that the lady evangelist, who was a mother of five, met her end in the throes of orgasm in the course of an ungodly sexual orgy with the man of God at a guest house in Ovom village, Obingwa Local Government area of the state.

When the pastor discovered that the mission had gone awry, he melted into the night. It was learnt that he was nabbed by the police while preaching holiness in the church.

A statement from the Police Public Relations Officer in Abia State, Maureen Chinaka, reads: “On the 13th of August 2023, at approximately 09:30 am, Mr Godwin Akpan (male), residing at Jubilee Guest House in Ovom Village, Obingwa LGA, reported to the Isiala Ngwa Police Division that an incident had occurred.

“It was revealed that on the evening of the 12th of August 2023, around 09:25 PM, a clergyman named Timothy Otu (male), associated with Agape Evangelical Ministry at Obikabia Junction in Obingwa LGA, had checked into the guest house along with a woman named Happiness Echieze (female) from Isiala Ngwa LGA, Abia State. Happiness Echieze was 43 years of age.

“Further details provided by Mr Akpan indicated that on the same date, around 12:00 am, he entered the hotel room of the aforementioned clergyman and discovered the lifeless body of Happiness Echieze. She was found unclothed, and a white substance was emanating from her mouth and nose.”

In another development in June 2023, the Abia State Police Command arrested 60-year-old Pastor Chukwuemeka Orji of the Assemblies of God Church for allegedly defiling a 13-year-old female domestic worker in the Aba area of the state. It was alleged that the pastor started devouring the victim at 12. He did all styles with the minor and forced her to suck his manhood. It was gathered that when the victim could not bear the marathon assault anymore, she reported the randy pastor to her class teacher, who alerted a non-governmental organisation (NGO). The NGO facilitated the arrest of the sermoniser.

Reacting to the development, the Aba District Superintendent of Assemblies of God Church, Rev. Dr Don Njoku, said Orji had been sanctioned and expelled from the ministry. He said: “Assemblies of God Church is a holiness organisation; we don’t support promiscuity of any kind. What our pastor did is what we preach against. Consequently, even if the announcement is not made official yet, he knows he has been sanctioned.

“He knows that in our constitution, anybody that does such a thing is expelled from the church and we will be going to his church on Sunday to tell the members to put an official approach to it and to tell them to cheer up and continue in the race because when a soldier is hit by a bullet, it does not make other soldiers to shrink, they continue. But all they will need to do is to guard themselves more, knowing that in battle, people fall and people die.

“So, obviously Rev. Chukwuemeka Orji is suspended and dis-fellowshipped from the ministry. Even if the government doesn’t do anything to him, this is what we do when our member does a thing such as that because what he did is what we prohibit, what the Bible prohibits and what we speak and stand against.”

Pastor-kidnappers

In July 2022, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Ondo State, Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed the arrest of Pastor David Anifowoshe of Whole Bible Deliverance Church, located in Valentino Area of Ondo West LGA of the state, for allegedly abducting more than 77 people, including children of his church.

It was gathered that the pastor and his assistant camped the victims – 54 adults and 23 children, in the church waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ. The police came into the matter following complaints of some parents who reported the case to the police in Ondo town.

Mr Michael Olorunyomi, whose child was rescued, said: “I attended the church before and I left because of the wrong teaching the pastors give the members. The pastors teach the church members on the need to divorce their wives while husbands are to divorce their wives if they want to go to heaven. They turned the children against their parents by teaching them what is not in the Bible.

“When I left the church, my daughter refused to follow me. I made the mistake of leaving her behind. Before I knew what was going on, my daughter who was in 300 level in the university at the time dropped out and camped in the church waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is because the pastor said that there was nothing again in the world and rapture would come in September this year. They arranged a marriage between my daughter and one of the pastors’ family members. They said nobody should go to work, no school and they must do nothing other than to wait for Christ’s coming in the church.’’

The prayers of the saints were answered on January 8, 2023 when those behind the two-time abduction of Pastor Albarka Bitrus Sukuya of ECWA Church, Bishara No. 3, Jenta Apata, in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State and the subsequent demand of ransom from congregants were exposed.

On that Sunday, Albarka came out and confessed that he was the one who masterminded his own kidnap. He then pleaded for forgiveness. The DPO, Nassarawa Gwong Police Station, Musa Hassan, invited him for questioning and he confessed to the crime. And he was arrested with his gang. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Alfred Alabo, in a statement, revealed that Albarka had on several occasions staged his own kidnap with his cohorts and received ransom from sympathising members of his congregation.

He explained: “Sequel to his spurious kidnaps of 14/11/2022 and 30/11/2022 where the sum of N400,000 and N200,000 were respectively paid by his sympathisers as ransom for his release, the incidents triggered suspicion.

“Through credible intelligence, the clergyman was invited by the DPO Nassarawa Gwong Police Station, CSP Musa Hassan, and investigation commenced immediately. In the course of investigation, it was established that the suspect has been conspiring with his gang to stage his kidnap and fraudulently collect ransom.”

He noted that the suspect confessed to have committed the crime and mentioned Baruk Mailale,  Nathaniel Bitrus both males of Yelwan Zangam village of Jos-North, and Aye (surname yet to be known), male of Jalingo, Taraba State, as his cohorts.

“The suspect further disclosed that, on 04/01/2023, he set ablaze two motor vehicles (a Mercedes Benz and a Toyota) and a bicycle parked at ECWA Bishara 3, Jenta Apata premises, belonging to his colleagues, alleging that one of them hates him, referring to his senior pastor.

“Police operatives of Nassarawa Gwong Division, Jos-North LGA, arrested two of the suspects, Baruk Mailale and Nathaniel Bitrus, while effort is been intensified to arrest Aye, the third suspect.

Albarka, who spoke in police custody, said: “It was hardship that pushed me into committing this crime. I don’t know what came over me. I am asking for forgiveness.”

A member of the church, who gave her name as Rebecca, expressed disappointment at the attitude of Albarka, saying: “He is no longer my pastor; he has embarrassed us and the church.” She acknowledged his gift of preaching and said it was better to beg from church members than to commit such a crime. Another church member, Joshua John, who re-echoed Rebecca’s position, disowned Albarka and said only God knows how he would get out of his present travails.

“If he had opened up his financial challenges, probably some members of the church would have shouldered it. I don’t know why he chose to go the way of committing crime to meet his needs,” he said. It was gathered that his in-laws have picked their daughter from his house with the newborn baby, leaving him to continue to swim in or out of his self-inflicted trouble.

Killer pastor

In June 2023, a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt sentenced a certain Pastor Chidiebereis Okoroafor, who is the General Overseer of the Altar of Solution and Healing Assembly based in Oyigbo, Rivers State, to death for multiple murders. He was convicted for killing his choir mistress, Orlunma Nwagba, who he allegedly impregnated.

He was also charged for the killing of Orlunma’s friend, Chigozie Ezenwa, and her 11-month old baby girl, Cresabel, on December 11, 2017, in the Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State.

In his ruling, the trial judge, S.O Benson, said the evidence and confessional statements from the pastor showed that he committed the crime.

It was gathered that the women had visited the pastor’s house in Oyigbo for a discussion on the said pregnancy when he tricked them into a bush and allegedly committed the act in two different locations.

Okoroafor was arrested on December 17, 2017 by men of Rivers State Police Command following the alarm raised by Chigozie’s husband over the killing of three people in two different locations.

Pastor Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, aka Rev.  King was sentenced to death in January 2007, and his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on 26 February 2016. His offence was that he set ablaze his church member, Ann Uzoh, for allegedly playing with some male members of the church.

Sucking out demons from women’s breasts

Some pastors have also made their mark in the act of sucking the breasts of their female followers to deliver them from their afflictions.  A Lagos-based self-styled pastor, identified as Raphael Obi, admitted sucking the breast of women to deliver them from what he called the evil spirit tormenting them.

Confessing to the police, Obi volunteered that his brand of deliverance ministry involved sucking of women’s breasts.The suspect, who hails from Enugu State, explained that he sucked women’s breasts to deliver them from killer diseases, including cancer. He added that after sucking thoroughly, the woman being delivered would not be affected with such diseases in future.

“I received this call from God and I have delivered many women in the past,” he said.

The police told a newspaper that the self-acclaimed pastor was arrested while performing the strange form of deliverance on the wife of a member of his church. The incident happened in his church on Abaranje Road, Ikotun, Lagos State. The police at Area M Command, Idimu, Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, arrested Obi for alleged gross misconduct, sucking of breasts and engaging victims in marathon sex in the guise of deliverance Similarly, a Kenyan-based Nigerian pastor, who wears the tag of Pastor Chijioke, admitted that he “delivers” women by sucking their breasts.”

A radio station based in Nakuru, Kenya, 99.0 FM Hero Radio, revealed this via an audio recording where the supposed pastor claimed he sucks women’s breasts while giving them “deliverance” in his church.

A female presenter, Joyce Vobis, had called the pastor’s mobile phone using a fake name, Nancy, to ask for spiritual guidance and counselling when he revealed quite a lot on air and didn’t realise he was being recorded.

In the phone conversation, Vobis told the pastor her problem was that she couldn’t get married. Every time she started dating, she said, when things got serious between them and they started talking about marriage, the men would run. The pastor then told her that she had the spirit of rejection and he had to suck it out from her breasts in order to get her delivered.

The pastor told the OAP to come to his church by 4pm so he could suck out the spirit of rejection from her breast so she can be delivered from the bad spirit.

Pastor Chijioke also revealed that his church members were all women, no men. And the women are told not to wear bras to make sucking their breasts much easier.

Vobis then asked the pastor if he can tell her where in the Bible it says that a pastor must suck a woman’s breasts to heal her but the pastor refused to answer.

He said: “Don’t bring up the Bible, you just come, we do this thing and then we finish.” As the call continued, the presenter told him her real name and that the phone call was a prank and that he was live on air. The pastor replies with “ewo.”

Some Nigerians have, however, claimed that the incident and the entire breast-sucking pastor saga might be a ruse or a mere prank.

Bizarre acts of African pastors

It is not only Nigerian pastors that do bizarre things. Many pastors, particularly in Africa, conduct themselves in a manner that puts a question mark on the faith they profess.  that do  A pastor in Kenya called John Mwangi recently ordered church members to carry him about until they buy him a Prado SUV.  According to him, a servant of God cannot walk on sinful ground and he will always be carried by his congregation until they buy him a Prado VXL 3500 cc.  The good news is that his church members have no problem carrying him until they buy the Prado. It was gathered that his church members have started making contributions to buy the car for their beloved servant of God.

Similarly, a pastor called James assigns at least three of his church members that will carry him until the end of each church service. Whether the members so appointed on a given day are males or females is not a matter for consideration. It also does not matter the type of dress those assigned are putting on. In fact, it is considered a privilege if you are among those chosen to carry the preacher for that day.

Ugandian born Pastor Fred Isanga of David of the Universal Apostle Fellowship Church of Righteousness located in Pretoria the administrative capital of South Africa took the race for heaven to another level. He allegedly told his church members to sell off their land and other assets to raise the capital for the acquisition of property in heaven. However, it is unclear how much the preacher is charging per plot of land in heaven.

The police arrested a Zimbabwean pastor a few months ago after he sold ‘tickets to heaven’ to his congregation at R9600 per person. It was gathered that Pastor Tito Wats and his wife asked their followers to buy the tickets because it would give them a special access to the gates of heaven. Interestingly, Pastor Tito Wats remained loquacious even in police custody. According to him, his arrest was baseless because Jesus appeared to him and gave him the tickets made of pure gold.

He said: “I do not care what people or the police are saying about me, I am being persecuted because of doing the work of God. Jesus Christ appeared to me and gave me the tickets made of pure gold so that I can sell to people who want salvation.” Take this: Some of his followers are supporting him wholeheartedly and accusing the authorities of persecuting their visionary leader.

In a video currently trending online, a pastor was seen conducting a special anointing service by washing his feet and face on top of the head of his church members. In South Africa, Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries instructed his followers to eat the grass at his ministry in Garankuwa, North of Pretoria, saying it will ‘bring them closer to God.’ And the sheep harkened to the voice of the shepherd.

His followers are feeding fat on grass and happy about it. A law student, Rosemary Phetha, said: “Yes, we eat grass and we’re proud of it because it demonstrates that, with God’s power, we can do anything.”

She added that the grass served as balm of Gilead. According to her, she had been battling a sore throat for more than a year, but it was healed after she ate the grass.

In 2022, a South African pastor officiating at a man’s funeral ceremony proposed to the widow and she accepted even as her husband’s casket was still on the pew.

What a man can do a woman can do better. In a viral video, a female pastor purported to be a Ghanaian is seen giving members her breast to suck as part of a healing and miracle retreat.

In the video, a male congregant was sucking the pastor’s breast and holding her waist tight to the administration of the congregation.

In April 2023, scores of bodies were exhumed from a land belonging to Pastor Paul Makenzi of the Good News International Church in coastal Kenya. He reportedly told his followers to fast to death in order to “meet Jesus.” Some pastors bathe their female members, shave their armpits and pubic hairs, claiming to act as the spirit leads.

‘There are fake pastors, but most are genuine’ Pastor Dennis Inyang of Sure Word Assembly said: “There are certainly some pastors that are doing the wrong thing. In any fold there are quacks and fakes. Some people are there for the wrong reasons. You will agree with me that there are fake journalists and lawyers as well. There are fake pastors too, false prophets and false apostles as well. There are people whose god is their belly, who are making merchandise of the gospel.

“They sell anointing oil, manipulate people with fake prophecies and stage-manage miracles all in a bid to squeeze money out of the people. But they are not in the majority. The majority of pastors are salvation-minded. They preach salvation and righteousness but they also need to preach prosperity too because you can’t have one without the other.”