In a harrowing interview, a 36-year-old former church member, who identified herself as Ama, accused the flamboyant televangelist of raping her when she was a 15-year-old choir girl, fathering a child he abandoned, and years later, sexually assaulting that same daughter.
According to Ama, her ordeal began in late 2004 at Okafor’s residence on Bashiru Street, Ojodu-Berger, Lagos. After delivering snails there as an offering from her mother, she was summoned back days later.
“He said he was done with the snails and asked me to come see him,” Ama recounted.
“He said he was done with the snails and asked me to come see him. I finished quickly and went to the lounge. He then came out and asked me to come inside his room,” she said.
“It was his bedroom. There was a bed and a table in front. He asked me to sit. He thanked me for washing the snails and appreciated my mother.”
What followed, she said, was a violent assault. “Suddenly, he touched me inappropriately. I asked, ‘What is this?’ He then locked the door. I was scared and said, ‘Please, I have not done this before.’
“He told me to calm down and said he liked me. I told him to leave me alone.
“He pushed me on the bed. I could not overpower him. Before I knew what was happening, I went blank. When I recovered, I was on the floor, bleeding. I cried, asking what I had done to deserve this.”
‘He Claimed The Holy Spirit Said I Was His Wife’
In the traumatic aftermath, Ama alleged that Okafor immediately used his religious authority to confuse and control her.
She said, “He asked me to clean myself. While I was crying, he brought out a jotter. On the back was something written in pencil. He held my shoulder and asked me to look. He verbally told me that the Holy Spirit said I was his wife.
“I did not know what to say or do. I dropped the jotter on the bed. When he left, I looked again and read the pencil: ‘Amarachi, you are my wife, says the Holy Spirit.’ He told me to go to the restroom and clean up. I did. I left, crying.”
The pastor allegedly warned her that he was a prophet and nobody should speak against him.
“He said if I told anyone, something bad would happen. He warned me never to mention what happened to anybody,” she said.
Confusion, Fear, and Silence
Ama described the fear that engulfed her.
“The fear I had in me was overwhelming because I was young. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t tell my left from my right. I was confused and disoriented, but I managed to get home that way,” she said.
By the second month, Ama noticed changes in her body. She said she confided in a trusted relative.
She said, “I called her and said I didn’t know what would happen to me, but I needed to say it. I told her what happened when I went to my pastor’s house. She screamed. She told me to wait and said she would come. When she arrived, she said she was in a hurry and asked how we could maintain my mother’s peace. That was always my biggest concern-my mother.”
Ama further alleged that the pastor tried to force her to have an abortion, saying, “He gave me money and told me to go to a hospital to terminate the pregnancy. I refused. I told him I couldn’t do it. My exams were coming up in two days.
“He begged me. He reminded me that he was a pastor and a prophet. He said the pregnancy must not stay. I told him I couldn’t do it. At that time, there were many rumours of people dying from abortions. Even on my street, people talked about it a lot. I was scared.
“He told me not to forget that he was a prophet and that he would pray for me so that nothing would happen. He said I should forget everything and trust him. I left in fear.”
My Daughter Said Her Daddy Assaulted Her Too’
Years later, under family pressure, Ama allowed Precious to live with Okafor. The arrangement quickly broke down, with access denied and the child reporting neglect.
Despite her resistance, Ama said family pressure, based on his wealth and claims of responsibility, led her to allow the child stay with him temporarily, on the condition that she could visit freely.
“There were times he pressured me heavily. I told my mother what he was saying. Some family members felt that since he had money and claimed he wanted to take responsibility, I should allow the child go to him, considering how much we had struggled. Eventually, under pressure, I took her there,” she said.
For a short period, this arrangement worked, but access to her daughter was soon restricted. Ama said she was repeatedly denied visits, sometimes begging security guards for a glimpse just to briefly see the child.
She alleged the child was deliberately hidden to avoid suspicion.
The situation reached a catastrophic point when Precious confided in her mother.
She said, “Later, my daughter called me, crying, saying something was wrong and that she needed to see me before she left the house. I finished what I was doing and left immediately.
“When my daughter was finally with me, she opened up fully. She told me how she was treated differently, how she was denied food, how she was constantly told to leave the house, and how she never felt like she belonged. She said there were no pictures of her among the family photos, and it made her feel unwanted.
“I reassured her that she would not return there, that she was safe now, and that everything would be okay.”
“She later opened up to me how her father had been sexually assaulting her (Pastor Chris) too in multiple instances during all her stays with him,” she said.
The alleged assaults occurred when Precious was about 14 years old.
“He assaulted her around 2019 and early 2020 when she was barely 14 years old,” Ama stated.
Traumatized, Ama focused on her daughter’s safety.
“It was a very traumatic news for all of us then, this is because the assault happened almost around the same age that I was raped by this same man. We had the option of raising alarm then. But she didn’t want anything that could affect the child emotionally or psychologically,” she said.
“Hence, we opted to quietly take the child away per the child’s request and her safety. The child was about to take her WAEC exam (West African Senior School Certificate Examination – WASSCE), and the situation was very similar to my experience. These were what formed our decision to take the child away from his house immediately so she could continue her school.”
