On
a normal day, 36-year-old Chukwuemeka Nwocha, the General Overseer of Tongue of
Fire Restoration Ministry located in Igbosere, Lagos, is a ‘man of God’ that
his congregation, both young and old, called “Daddy”.
But
on Friday, as he was being paraded before journalists at the Lagos State Police
Command Headquarters in Ikeja, he was no longer a “spiritual daddy” but a
suspect who harboured 13 underaged girls as sex slaves in a three-bedroomed
harem.
Fair
complexioned and soft-spoken, Nwocha did not come across as someone
capable of such crime. When he started to talk about what he did before
journalists, he started by saying “By His Grace,” a statement that elicited a
laugh of derision from all present.
According
to Nwocha, it all started when the children in his church, who called him,
“Daddy, daddy” told him they would like to visit him.
He
said, “I only tried to help the girls.When the first girl came, she said
she did not have anywhere to go. I did not know her parents. I am a
pastor and I felt pity for her. After spending three days, I told her she
needed to go out and bring some of her relations so that they would know where
she was. But she did not.
“Later,
some parents in my church also said they would like to send their chidlren to
live with me. Some of them came to spend holidays after their exam.”
He
insisted the parents knew they were in his house. But after telling
stories that diverted attention from allegations that he raped the girls
and had also forced some of them to do abortions, he paused and shook his head.
“I
am a pastor, the devil only used the children against me. I did not rape them.
I only slept with Sola (real name withheld). She is my girlfriend and we
actually planned to marry.
When
asked how old the girl he mentioned was, he said she was about to clock 17.
Asked
again if the parents of the girls he claimed knew their whereabouts also knew
he was sexually abusing them, he said yes.
The
Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, had said that the
pastor haboured the girls with the promise of paying their school fees, feeding
them and buying gifts for them.
“While
they were in his house, three of them became pregnant and he took them for
abortions. He first denied all the allegations but like all criminals, he later
confessed to raping them without using protection,” the CP said.
One
of the girls, who were also brought to the Lagos State Police Command spoke on
the matter.
The
13-year-old girl, who sobbed as she talked, explained that her parents indeed
gave her permission to spend the holiday in the pastor’s house.
The
girl said all the 13 of them in the pastor’s house lived in one room in his
three-bedroomed flat.
“There
is only one bed in the room. We all sleep anyhow we could. One of us, who
is older is the one who cooked in the house. I got there two weeks ago. My
parents are his church members. I just felt it will be good if I spent part of
the holiday in pastor’s house. My parents gave their permission before I went
there.
“It
was when I got to the house that I saw other girls. Few days after I got there,
he called me and took me to his room and slept with me. He told me not to speak
to anybody about what he did and that he would buy me clothes. I knew that he
was sleeping with the other girls. I don’t know whether anyone of the other
girls have had abortion.”
The
girl confirmed that the pastor is married and that his wife is schooling and
was never around, contrary to the claim of the pastor that he was single.
This
was corroborated by another girl who said they all called the pastor’s
wife Mary and that she came around to the house once in a
while.
The
CP has said Nwocha would be prosecuted along with whoever conspired with him to
commit the crimes.
Source: The Punch
Tags
Society