Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has released the photograph of a pastor of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Gwarinpa branch, David Onyekachuku, who allegedly raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl.
Onyekachuku, 48, who hails from Nsukka in Enugu State, reportedly met the victim, a Junior Secondary School 2 pupil in the Karmo area of Abuja sometime in 2018 and started making love advances to her.
The national agency for prohibition against trafficking in persons, NAPTIP in a statement on Sunday, said the pastor, after his arrest and during interrogation, confessed to have sexually abused the girl two times and blamed the act on the “work of the devil”.
Onyekachuku confessed that when he met the victim for the first time, he volunteered to provide shelter and also to deliver her from witchcraft.
The victim had lost her parents in 2018 and was said to be in dire need of accommodation.
The anti-trafficking agency said investigation revealed that the pastor lost his wife at an undisclosed period and later brought the victim to stay with him and his daughter in Karmo.
He allegedly volunteered to assist the victim with her education. The victim noted that it was in her first year with the pastor that he started making love advances to her, an action she resisted.
NAPTIP said the pastor first raped the victim in March 2019 during her birthday and allegedly continued to rape her thereafter, resulting in the pregnancy.
The anti-trafficking agency said in the statement by the Head of Press and Public Relations, Mrs Stella Nezan, that the case would be “diligently prosecuted to secure justice for the victim.”
Nezan said, “During interrogation, the pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, confessed to have sexually abused the girl twice and attributed the evil act to the work of the devil.
“He stated that he took the girl in to conduct deliverance on her and also enrolled her in school, having dropped out for about two years. After the deliverance, he took her to live with him and his daughter.”
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The NAPTIP Director General, Julie Okah-Donli, said, “Rather than doing what is biblically expected of him in line with his calling, he abused his position and preyed on the very victim he was supposed to protect.
“Arising from the increased cases of rape and sexual abuse of female children and even males across the country, I have directed massive sensitisation across the country in order to arrest the situation.”
MFM suspends Member over Indecent Relationship with Female Teenager
In the meantime, the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) has placed an indefinite suspension on Mr. David Onyekachukwu of its Life Camp branch, Abuja, over the indecent relationship he had with the 16-year-old girl.
The indefinite suspension, according to a statement by the Church’s spokesman, Brother Collins Edomaruse, is in line with the rules and regulations of MFM which forbid such acts and frown at them.
Edomaruse also said that Onyekachukwu’s indefinite suspension is a result of an investigation carried out by the Church that established that he was culpable of the reported offence of rape, which resulted in the reported pregnancy of the female teenager.
Confirming the incident, Regional Overseer (RO) Gwarimpa region of the church, Pastor Babalola Niyi, said: He (Onyekachukwu) is not an ordained pastor in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries.
“He is just a member/worker in that Life Camp branch and he has been suspended from the branch immediately.
“The church can not stop the law from taking its course as doing so will amount to condoning evil and being an accessory after the fact.”
He said, “After investigation, we confirm that the raping and impregnating of the girl is true and the matter is currently being handled by the Police.
“However, we want to say that the alleged person is not an ordained Pastor or an officially appointed Pastor in MFM Gwarimpa Region.
“This is therefore a personal issue between the Brother and the innocent victim.
“It has nothing to do with Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries.
“In MFM, the leadership does not condone indiscipline.
“Absolute holiness within and without is our hallmark in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries.
“This is of a priority in all our trainings and teachings to our Pastors and members.
“The alleged brother is already in the Custody of the Police to allow the law to take its course.”
END
