Marriage in hell: Chris Okafor Ministers word of God with moral baggage 

Nigerian pastors are not only charismatic, they also combine it with the gift of the garb and shameless morality by delivering the word of God with sardonic sense of earthy love relationship with their spouses or side chicks and obsessive materialism. On and before the wedlock last week of handsome Ojodu-Berger preacher, Chris Okafor of Grace Land went to the alter with another, tongues have not stopped wagging with social media on fire.

A lot of troubled love life of many of them have made the headlines. But he is not alone in this morality perfidy; his names Chris Okotie of House on the Rock and another Chris Oyahkilome of Christ Embassy, Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire etc..

The  most recent is that of Nollywood actress  Doris Ogala, who has openly confessed to a sizzling love affair with Pastor Chris Okafor of Grace Nation Liberation City located in Ojodu Berger.  Depressed and frustrated, Ogala  has filed a lawsuit against the charismatic pastor demanding  N1bn in  damages from him over alleged breach of marriage promise

Ogala is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria. The demand was conveyed in a letter dated December 16, 2025, issued by her legal representatives, Synergy Law Partners, and addressed to Pastor Okafor at his Ojodu Berger residence….

Ogala is neither the first to raise what verges on moral question about  the character of many a Nigerian pastor.

Sometimes in 2018, a Canada-based Nigerian lady, Stephanie Otobo, accused Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministries of breaking a promise he allegedly made to marry her after allegedly sleeping with her several times.

The accusation dragged on with Festus Keyamo standing as Stephanie’s lawyer.

Latter, Otobo allegedly apologized to the Apostle.

Polygamy By Other Means

However, months later, Stephanie made a U-turn and confessed at the Omega Fire Ministries that she was paid by “strong” politicians and pastors to accuse Suleman.

“They paid me a lot of money,” she said, crying in the video posted to the church’s Facebook account.

But in a twist some months after,  a former pastor of the Omega Fire Ministries, Mike Davids, who had accused the General Overseer of the church, Apostle Johnson Suleman, of also sleeping with his wife,  threatened to expose the “truth” behind the Stephanie Otobo’s sex scandal.

Davids, who  accused Suleman of sleeping with his wife, Faith Edeko, who currently heads an Abuja branch of the church, at that time, said in a new video that he and Apostle Suleman both knew how they got Otobo to come to the church in Auchi, and apologize over the scandal and how they persuaded her mother too.

Davids said: “I left the church (Omega Fire Ministries) of my freewill. You were never the one who sent me out of that ministry. I was tired of your ungodliness as a leader. And that was the major reason I left that ministry. So, forget those manipulations and cheap lies.

While general rumors and news often circulate about Nigerian pastors facing marital issues or scandals, specific, publicly confirmed cases of high-profile pastors having significant fallouts with their spouses (lovers/wives) involve figures like Pastor Chris Oyakhilome (Christ Embassy, divorce from wife Anita), Iginla, Suleiman and some others.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, founder of LoveWorld Ministry (Christ Embassy), married Anita Ebhodaghe on February 2, 1991. The couple, who met as university students, had two daughters, Sharon and Charlene. In April 2014, Anita filed for divorce in London, citing claims of adultery and unreasonable behavior. The divorce was finalized on February 8, 2016.

The Christ Embassy founder’s now ex-wife led the ministry’s branches in the United Kingdom, among other things. In 2014, members of Christ Embassy started noticing that Anita Ebhodaghe had not attended any ministry events for a long time. Pictures of her were also taken down from Christ Embassy’s websites.

Divorce Among Pastors

There  were  also many similar stories involving lesser-known pastors, these  often stay private or are handled internally within churches.

Many of the accusations against these Pastors often involved unfulfilled promises of marriage, infidelity, irreconcilable differences, or alleged abuse, leading to separations, controversies, and sometimes church splits.

Then , there were allegations of sexual misconduct against Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo (Commonwealth of Zion Assembly – COZA):  The charismatic Abuja-based pastor was faced with multiple public accusations of sexual misconduct/rape from women (including Busola Dakolo), this has often led to significant controversies, though these were about extramarital affairs/abuse, not a fallout with his wife.

Then there was the case of Pastor Paul Adefarasin (House on the Rock): While his marriage to Ifeanyi Adefarasin is generally seen as stable, there have been past rumors and tabloid reports about marital challenges and alleged infidelities, which the church often denies or downplays.

The Abuja Pastor, Prophet Joshua Iginla, has also been enmeshed in messy love controversy.

Prophet Joshua Iginla, founder and Senior Pastor of Champions Royal Assembly in Abuja, publicly confessed in 2019 that both he and his wife, Yemisi, had children outside their marriage. This revelation led to their divorce. Subsequently, he married Stella Zimasa, a South African, with whom he had an affair that led to the birth of a daughter.

The cleric announced the divorce in his church that his marriage ended due to infidelity on both sides. According to him, when his wife cheated and had an ‘unholy child, he forgave her but when he cheated and had a child outside wedlock, she decided to make life unbearable for him.

And somehow she brought an unholy child into the matrimony, “I don’t want you to judge my wife or anything, but it led to so many battles, family intervention but we covered it… I also went out and got a child outside of wedlock and then it became a battle in the family… I told her to settle in secret or I will go to the world Confess my sin, receive the insult and end the marriage. And that is what I am doing now.

Yemisi, however, denied the allegations her husband made against her, she said:

My three children are his, I have never lived a promiscuous life. I am speaking out for my children’s sake and their destiny.

Chris Okafor seems to have taken the notoriety of pastors a notch higher by not only divorcing his legitimate wife, but dating another woman, whom he promised to marry and then marrying another. The society wedding last week was conducted by Rev. Matthew Ashimolowo of Kingsway Christian Church, in Maryland, Lagos, which also has attracted public attention, as people condemn such involvement of senior pastors in untoward behavior of rascality of such pastors.

Dr. Charles Apoki blasted Ashimolowo and Bishop David Abioye, formerly of Winners chapel, of being involved with this character, therefore, conferring legitimacy and support for their immoral behaviors.

The question of many people’s mouths is after Okafor who is next. It seems this has become a tradition in the Nigerian church.