Female pastor narrates how bishop assaulted her twice in Lagos

On Tuesday, a 23-year-old Adekunle Ajasin University student from Akungba Akoko in Akure Ondo State (name withheld) described how she was allegedly raped by the founder of her church, Oluwafeyiropo Daniels of I Reign Christian Family Church, in front of an Ikeja Special Offenses and Domestic Violence Court.

The former assistant pastor of the church’s branch in Akungba testified before Justice Ramon Oshodi’s court that she met the bishop for the first time on May 28, 2018, when he was in Akure for a program.

The rape victim stated that she joined the church after that and when her pastor, Toyosi Bamishe, needed to give over to another pastor, she became a member of it. Babajide Boye, the prosecutor for Lagos State, led her in the examination-in-chief.

She claimed that the bishop had called her to the Lagos church to punish her for missing a ministers’ conference because it conflicted with her brother’s wedding and for missing the deadline for transcribing roughly six of the bishop’s audio sermons.

She said that on June 21, 2020, the defendant asked her to report to him in the sitting room and then revealed her his plans for the church over the following five to ten years.

The woman said in court that she was watching television at the time he entered the living room and demanded she remove her clothes.

She claimed that the bishop had informed her that having sex with her would demonstrate her allegiance.

She claimed that after telling him that he was not her husband and that she could not have sex with him, he revealed to her some of the things he did for his spiritual father.

She claimed that the bishop turned to raping her after she refused to cooperate with him.

She said, “He pinned me against a three-seater couch and raped me. He was bigger than me and I was bleeding from my private part.

“I was begging him but he didn’t listen. I told him I was bleeding, he said he knew and that I should shut up.

“When he was done, he ordered me to go and wash up immediately. He collected my phone and cleaned the blood before I came out. He said I should not tell anybody and that the day I tell anyone, I will run mad.”

The woman admitted to being terrified, but the next day she got on her phone and sent her pastor a message on WhatsApp using a code, and he concluded that she had been abused.

She claimed the pastor at first assumed it was a prank and that Daniels was trying his loyalty.

She added, “On June 23, I was planning how to leave and when I came out of the room, he was tying a red towel and he said I should even be happy that he raped me, that he told me he wanted to have sex with me and I rejected him.

“He said people would have been happy that he had sex with them. He took off my clothes and raped me again. He told me that I would die if I tell anyone.

“I bled the second time and he ordered me again to go and take my bath and ordered me back into the room. I immediately sent a message to Pastor Oladejo that the bishop had raped me again.”

She explained that the defendant had driven her to a hospital in Lekki where she had met a physician who belonged to the Lekki Church.

The victim said that the defendant told her in the car before they arrived at the hospital that she should tell the doctor that her boyfriend had sexually assaulted her.

The trial was continued after the case was postponed to May 24 and 25.