‘I only tried to help the girls.’ Pastor Nabbed For Abusing 13 Underage Girls Spills

Chukwuemeka Nwocha, a married 36-year-old pastor and General Overseer of Tongue of Fire Restoration Ministry in the Igbosere area of Lagos paraded on Friday for harbouring 13 underaged girls as sex slaves in a three-bedroomed apartment, has said he only tried to help the girls and Satan used them against him.

According to Punch, the embattled pastor 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.

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.”

The pastor who allegedly also forced some of the girls to have abortions after raping them added that Sola, the girl he claimed he planned to marry, is about 17, and all the girls’ parents knew they were in his custody and he was sexually abusing them.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, revealed the pastor haboured the girls with the promise of paying their school fees, feeding them and buying gifts for them. He added,

“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.”

One of his victims, a 13-year-old, told the media amid tears that the pastor held all 13 of them in one room in his three-bedroomed flat. She said,

“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 added that contrary to the pastor’s claim that he is single, he is in fact married and his wife, who is schooling, was never around. This was confirmed by one of his other victims, who said they all called the pastor’s wife Mary and that she came around only once in a while.

The pastor is expected to be prosecuted for his crimes soon.