JOY ANYIM
Many are called, but few are chosen’. This saying may be the exact words to describe the supposed ‘Pastors’, ‘Imams’, ‘Priests’, ‘Alfas or in a general term, men of God.
They are regarded as sacred, closer to the Supreme Being, having the right word for almost any situation and making the distinction between what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is bad.
Many depend on these men for direction, for advice and spiritual guidance. In some cases they are like demi-gods, as members of their congregation place them just a little below the Supreme Being.
For an average Christian or Muslim, these men of God symbolise perfection, setting the standard for others to follow.
Ebony Boma, an accountant, a devout Christian and a member of a popular Pentecostal church in Lagos, says a man of God should be God’s ambassador on earth.
“Men of God are specially positioned to guide us, reprove us where necessary and help us to rise when we fall short of the glory of the Almighty. They are the ambassadors of God.
“We must accord them all the respect they deserve. However, we must be careful not to put them in place of God. But truly, men of God are shepherds; we the congregants are the flock. They are the reason some of us can stand tall in spite of all we have done or been through,” she said.
Similarly Alhaji Rahman Olaniyi says a Muslim cleric “is a person, who observes the five pillars of Islam and six articles of Islam. He believes in Quran and Hadith. He does not tell lies; he keeps promises and does not betray trust.”
As true as the comments of Boma and Olaniyi may sound, the present generation of men of God has had their fair share of the biblical Judas amongst the twelve disciples. While some are true to their calling, as sacred followers of the Supreme Being, leaders and mentors to the many who look up to them, others have looked the other way, choosing rather to satisfy the desires of the flesh.
This set of self-seeking clerics takes advantage of gullible, naive and fragile congregants, who see them as their spiritual leaders. They sometimes extort money from their members, and at other times, take advantage of them sexually. Some have even turned their back on the doctrines contained in the Holy Bible and the Quran, paving way for all sorts of immorality.
The young, old, male and female have had their fair share of sexual assaults by this crop of servants of God. Some of them have even gone as far as keeping concubines and having kids out of wedlock.
In recent times, the media have been awash with reports of men of God, who have looked the other way and betrayed the trust vested in them.
In the beginning from the Christian point of view The Catholic Church and other protestant churches were the earliest places of worship for Christians. These churches had branches across nations, cities and communities, with messages centred on the love of the Almighty.
However, there was a new twist to their primary duties of preaching the word and encouraging the broken hearted. Immorality crept into the church. Cases of men of God getting involved in sexual immorality dates back to 11th century when Peter Damian, an Italian devout Catholic wrote about sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic fold. By the 15th century, a first major case was brought to the fore, as two sisters were withdrawn from their abbey to live in their family house because priests were molesting them.
According to Wikipedia report, the year 1531 saw Martin Luther, making claims that Pope Leo X had vetoed a measure that cardinals should restrict the number of boys they kept for their pleasure, “otherwise it would have been spread throughout the world how openly and shamelessly the Pope and the cardinals in Rome practise sodomy.”
However, the case is no different now, as the 20th and 21st centuries have been loaded with allegations, investigations, trials and convictions of men of God for their alleged involvement in sexual assault. Some Catholic priests have even gone against their cherished oath of abstinence or celibacy and secretly having children and starting a family, while they remain priests.
READ ALSO: BBNaija (S4): Fans shocked over Avala, Isilomo’s eviction
From the 90’s till date, many have alleged sexual molestation by men of God, some of whom were close family friends. Church officials have also been accused of covering up such allegations in a bid to protect the sanctity of the church and keep the media from it. In most cases, those making allegations of abuse were either minors or adults, who were threatened into secrecy by their abusers. They only found their voice many years after, seeking for justice.
Such clerics, who were accused were either transferred to another parish or suspended for a period of time, after which they return, apologising for their past wrongs.
Specific cases of sexual abuse/immorality by men of God
Many countries of the world have had their share of men of God involved in sexual immorality. The United States of America has the highest number of cases of sexual abuses by the clergy. Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries, even in Africa, have had a dose of the endemic sexual assault and immorality by cherished men of god.
Cases in Europe, Asia and America
In 1995, Austrian Cardinal, Hans Hermann Groer, resigned as the Archbishop of Vienna, following allegations of sexual abuse, but remained a cardinal.
In Ireland, a report by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, issued a report from a research spanning six decade (from1950s), revealed many incidents of sexual abuse by men of God, especially in the Catholic faith. The research noted that poverty and social vulnerability were at the bane of abused victims.
According to Broken Rites, a support and advocacy group for church related matters based in Australia, as of 2011, there have been over one hundred cases of clergymen charged for sexual abuse.
Also, a Muslim cleric, Maulavi Saber Faroqui, had allegedly defiled a 12-year-old girl in a Madrasa at Kanpur. He fled the city and was declared wanted by the Indian Police.
In the USA, 2017 was significant as the #metoo campaign that had been on for persons who had been violated sexually to speak out, found its way into the church.
Jules Woodson, a flight attendant had revealed how a youth pastor at her local church in Woodlands had molested her sexually at age 17.
The survivor who said the incident happened in 1998 explaining further that the Baptist Pastor, Andy Savage, had offered to give her a ride home that day.
Woodson said, “Instead of a ride to drop me home, Savage had passed the turn to my house and drove down a dirt road where he reached a dead end and switched off the headlights.
“Savage unzipped his jeans trouser and asked me to perform oral sex on him, others followed after.”
She claimed that Savage went on his knees and begged her to keep the act a secret and take it to her grave.
Woodson said she reported the matter to the church assistant the next day, who only asked her if she participated in the act.
“Savage was never punished, as he continued as a youth pastor in the local church, preaching against sexual sins and admonishing youths to abstain and flee from all appearance of fornication,” she said.
Angered by the act, the flight attendant said she left the church but found her voice 20 years after.
Similarly, in 2018, Harry Thomas, 75-year-old pastor of New Testament Church in Medford and a co-founder of the Creation Festival, was enmeshed in a sexual scandal. Thomas had allegedly assaulted minors from ages 7-9 in the church.
Africa in view
In 2011, Tanzania-based Kit Cunningham, a Catholic Reverend Father, and three other priests were exposed as pedophiles after Cunningham’s death. The abuse had allegedly taken place in the 1960s but was revealed through the investigation by an international media organisation.
The story was not different with a 29-year-old student of Federal College of Education Technical, Akoka, Lagos. A 25-year-old Muslim cleric, Mustapha Hammed, raped her in the Ikorodu area of Lagos. He had talked her into the fact that she had a spiritual problem, which he wanted her to go to a secluded area to pray against. Believing him, the young lady followed him all the way to Ikorodu, where he raped her. The suspect was arrested and charged to court for the offence, which he blamed on passion.
The Senior Pastor and Founder of Jesus Dominion International, based in Durban, South Africa, Pastor Timothy Omotoso, was arrested in 2017, while attempting to leave the country, after the country’s police had received complaints of sexual abuses allegedly perpetrated by him.
He was dragged to court on 63 charges of rape, human trafficking and racketeering.
The Nigerian-born Omotoso was a familiar face on television in Nigeria and other African countries. He allegedly specialised in recruiting underage girls in their teens, as church workers, camping them in a house and enjoying sexual pleasure with them, even against their will.
Before the revelation about his many alleged sexual escapades, Omotoso was known for working miracles, healings, prophecies and preaching the good news in countries of the world. He was respected and one of the highly placed international men of God.
Also a music guru, Omotoso had a special all female choir that he handpicked by himself. One of the women, who gave evidence in court, Cheryl Zondi, now a 22-year-old student, had received death threats ahead of the trial.
She told the court: “Mr. Omotoso, quoting the Psalms and threatening God’s anger, if I did not comply, had repeatedly raped me a year after I had joined his church as a child.”
He is currently in prison custody, pending when his fate will be determined by the court.
An Osun-based Muslim cleric, Habeebulah Abdulrahman, had very recently raped a 16-year-old girl (name withheld). The girl was a student of his Islamic School in Ede community
Four days after the girl had enrolled in the school, the cleric had asked her to marry him, she refused and he raped her.
In a rather interesting case, after weeks of rumoured breakup with his wife, Popular Abuja-based pastor, Joshua Iginla, made an open confession of how he and his wife had committed adultery and even had children outside their matrimonial home.
While addressing his congregants, Iginla, who is the Senior Pastor of Champions Royal Assembly, said his wife was the first to break their matrimonial vow.
According to him, when his wife, Yemisi, brought an illegitimate child into their matrimonial home, he forgave her and accepted the child. But she refused to forgive him when he had his own child with another woman.
In a video that trended on social media, Iginla had said in part, “What happened was what would make a man divorce his wife scripturally and I had the backing for that. But I had to cover it up to be sure that my marriage moved with your mother and that led to so many things.
“She brought an unholy child into the marriage, which was difficult for me to chew. I don’t want you to judge my wife or anything. I just want you to know.
“We had serious battles here and there; family interventions and everything. We covered it. We would have not got to this point today if my wife had listened to me when we had the battle. I also went to have a child outside wedlock and then it became a battle in the family.
“Assuming I was like some of you, I wouldn’t be under these attacks. So many pastors in Nigeria and outside want to play politics with Joshua Iginla because Joshua Iginla is a big man of God, so you hear all manner of talk. It is good. I leave them to God.
“It is so painful that when men of God go through strife, you are quick to throw stones at them and abuse them. It is good. We will receive it as our cross because it is part of our battle in life.”
The General Overseer of Jesus International Household Ministry, Rev. Ezuma Chizemdere, was arrested by the Ejigbo Police Division in March 2019 for sodomy.
Investigations by the Lagos State Police Command had revealed that Rev. Chizemdere, who is HIV positive, had infected one of the boys with the virus. At least 15 boys had been sodomised by the cleric, who pays them N2000 each for anal sex.
The Spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Elkana Bala, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, had said: “Investigation revealed that he brought in about 15 boys into his apartment where he forcefully penetrated them all through the anus. Some members of the neighbourhood revealed that the reverend usually washed six-bed sheets daily whenever he brought in little children suspected to be his sex partners
“On further interrogation, he revealed that he is HIV positive and has been receiving treatment for over three years. One 16-year-old Shedrack was part of his victims and was infected with HIV around October 2018.”
Sometime in 2013, the head pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Biodun Fatoyinbo was accused of sex assault by a young writer and lawyer, Ese Walter. Her accusation did not gain public support, as many felt she was only trying to tarnish the image of the millionaire pastor.
Six years after the drama with Walter, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo was again accused of rape by Busola Dakolo, wife of popular musicain, Timi Dakolo.
Mrs. Dakolo, a mother of two, had in an explosive interview revealed how the pastor raped her at age 17, some 20 years back, in her father’s house in Kwara State.
She was a then member of a fellowship, Divine Delight Club owned by Fatoyinbo. Before the incident, she claimed the pastor had shown interest in her welfare and spiritual growth.
While the pastor had denied the allegation, protesters with placards had taken to branches of COZA in Lagos and Abuja, condemning the act and calling for justice.
Two other ladies had also accused the pastor of assaulting them sexually after Busola’s revelation.
READ ALSO: Oscars: Three Nigerians make Academy’s members list
Pastor Fatoyinbo had bowed to pressure three days after and taken a leave of absence. He said: “I have taken time to pray and seek spiritual counsel from Christian leaders around the world, who feel very concerned about the ongoing reports in the media.
“I have solicited their guidance on action I should take that is honouring to our Lord Jesus Christ and the work he has called me to do.
“Drawing from their counsel and that of the leadership of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly and owing to my love for God’s work and the sacred honour of my calling, I have decided to take a leave of absence from the pulpit of the church.
“This step enables me to submit to the concerns of my spiritual mentors, as they consider all the issues that have been raised against me. Though I do not understand all that is happening, I trust the Lord to lead and guide me one step at a time.”
Men of God are first humans
According to Pastor Goodluck Ndubuisi, an associate pastor of kingdom Insight Church, men of God or pastors are first humans.
Sharing his thought on the matter, Pastor Ndubuisi said: “We are human beings first before we were called by the Almighty. We feel what every other man feels. We want to be loved and cared for. Men of God, regardless of the religion, are first flesh and blood. Regardless of the religion, any spiritual leader has the tendency to do what others do except by the grace of God.”
On the allegation of sexual assault by Christian clergymen, Ndubuisi posited: “It is not everyone that was called by God. Some made themselves pastor. People need to be spiritually sensitive and not just go into any place of worship because they call the name of Jesus.
“However, I will also say that being a pastor comes with plenty of responsibility. You have to be vigilant. The devil will want to tempt you. This is why I advise young pastors to marry early in their career as pastor to avoid being tempted. Even those of us, who are married, we see a lot; ladies will claim they need counseling and what they wear is outrageous; if you are not careful and heaven conscious, you will fall for them.
“I have had my own personal experiences but God helped me to overcome. So, as a pastor, you must have a genuine relationship with God. Listen to the Holy Spirit always because He knows the intent of every man and will always reveal them to you.”
Another pastor, who said he did not want his name mentioned because of rules of his church, said there is need to investigate allegations of sexual assault.
Making reference to the case of Pastor Fatoyinbo, he said: “As a man of God in Christendom, you need to be vigilant. If the devil is tempting an ordinary man on level one, he will do it to a man of God on level seven. Prayer is the key here. A real man of God cannot do it alone. You may make mistakes, but constant prayer and communion with the Holy Spirit will keep you far from evil.
“Like in the case of Pastor Fatoyinbo, I still find it hard to believe. However, I would want the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and Christian Association of Nigeria to conduct an independent investigation into the matter. If he is found culpable, he should be charged to court for the offence. Discipline should start from the body of Christ.”
Psychological Explanation
Psychologist and academic, Professor Taiwo Kayode, said there is a psychological explanation to what clerics, who sexually assault others are going through.
The Head of Department, Department of Psychology at the Lagos State University, said there may be many reasons a cleric cannot hold on to moral standards.
According to him: “There is a psychological explanation to everything we do. You may look at it from the cognitive, norms, value or personality, shaping or modeling angle. It could be the norm in the society they find themselves. It could be modeling; who groomed them, was the person involved in the same? Where did they grow up, do they have close colleagues, who have been doing the same uncaught, and other such factors. In psychology, we also believe that every action must have been premeditated. You must have thought about an action, before you carry it out.
“In the case of Pastor Fatoyinbo, if it is true, I will say some men have tastes that are not normal. Some men of God may feel because of their power figure, which could be financial, they can do anything and get away with it. If he has been consistent in the act, then it is a personality disorder and there is no fire brigade approach to solving such problem,” he submitted.
While calling for caution in handling allegations of rape, as not all information dished out on the social media may be true, Professor Taiwo added: “You know the woman who had committed adultery in the Bible and was about to be stoned. Jesus said anyone with no sin should be the first to cast the stone.”
