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Crisis In Church As Junior Pastor Impregnates General Overseer
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari (right) congratulating the newly elected state APC Woman Leader, Mrs Caroline Nagbo (left) at the party’s congress last Saturday in Port Harcourt.
Crisis of confidence is currently brewing at the Lord’s Delight Ministries (a.k.a Delight Arena) located at 51, Afolabi Street, Ishibiri Road, Ajangbadi, Lagos, as its founder, who is now embroiled in a sordid divorce suit, is accused of being impregnated by a young pastor.
At the centre of the storm is the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Rita Obioma Obiakor, and her minister-husband, Pastor Paulinus Obiakor.
Both are entangled in a web of accusations and counter-accusations of infidelity, and behaviour unbecoming of the clergy.
The duo is before a customary court, sitting at Ojo, Lagos, under President T.A Said, seeking dissolution of their 15-year-old marriage.
When Pastor Paulinus Obiakor stepped into the dock to give his side of the story, he accused his wife of defiling the church by sleeping with prominent male members of the congregation in order to raise funds and establish herself financially.
The land she acquired for the new church and her new apartment, he alleged, were paid for with funds she raised from her illicit sexual affairs with male church members.
“My wife is the founder of the church, but as her husband, I am entitled to be the general overseer of the church. I had suspected my wife was frolicking with the wealthy and influential members of the church.
“My fears were eventually ascertained when she abandoned me and moved to her new church and apartment at Shibiri with a younger man she employed as her personal assistant known as Pastor Nwachineye,” Obiakor claimed.
He further dropped a bombshell, alleging that his wife was impregnated by one of the pastors she employed.
He substantiated this accusation by alleging that she took the man in question to her village and had introduced him to her family members and relatives as her new husband.
“That is a big sacrilege because I am still very much alive and active, so why would she take another man to replace me?” he argued.
His bitterness towards his wife, Obiakor asserted, was that she has been denying him access to their children.
But in her testimony, the Orlu, Imo State-born prophetess alleged that her estranged husband and father of her four children, has turned a thorn in her flesh.
Speaking through her counsel, Godson Samuel, she justified her decision to opt out of the troubled marriage thus: “My husband is on the verge of destroying all the work and effort that I have put in place to establish this church over the years.”
She outlined the heart of the matter: “I got married to him when I was barely 16 years old, and he, 27 years. Then, he had nothing, jobless and looking very unkempt. I started doing odd jobs to make both ends meet. Precisely in 2005, the Lord called me into His vineyard to serve Him and show His people the right path.
She further alleged that her husband’s greed and jealousy has done much damage to the image she had laboured so much to build.
The disharmony between the couple degenerated to the extent that she was forced to buy another plot of land at Shibiri, Ajangbadi, a far away suburb, and constructed a new church, thereby abandoning the old church located at 1, Bakare Street, Amukoko.
She also abandoned their accommodation, and gave up some members of the old church to her estranged husband.
“I moved in with my children to a rented apartment close to the (new) church while my faithful members moved into our new church.”
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.