2019: Year of kidnapping, killing of clerics, attacks on churches, sex scandals, other tragedies

The outgoing year, indeed, featured the good, the bad and the ugly and the Christendom is not an exception, as the church within and outside the country witnessed some unusual event in the year.

Many of the occurrences are events that raised dust as some clerics were in the news for the wrong reasons with many of them caught in some ungodly acts.

It was also on record that the church suffered several incidents as a result of the security challenges in the country. Many clerics were kidnapped with huge ransoms demanded. In some cases, some clerics paid the ultimate price in various parts of the country.

Some of the unusual events that also caused embarrassment to the church include the alleged rape scandal of notable cleric, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo, Texas-based church sex leak scandal, a viral sex video of students of a faith-based institution of higher learning, Babcock University, Sotitobire church saga where a child was reportedly stolen inside the church, among others.

 

ISWAP reportedly beheaded 10 Christian missionaries, shot 11th dead on Christmas eve

Militant group, Islamic State of West Africa released a video purporting to show its members beheading 10 Christian men in Nigeria, saying it was part of a campaign to avenge the deaths of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its spokesman.

The militant group posted the footage on its online Telegram news channel on Thursday, the day after Christmas, with Arabic captions but no audio.

The video showed men in beige uniforms and black masks lining up behind blindfolded captives then beheading 10 of them and shooting an 11th man.

An earlier video seen by Reuters said the captives had been taken from Maiduguri and Damaturu in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, where militants have been fighting for years to set up a separate Islamist state.

In that video, the captives pleaded for the Christian Association of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene to save them.

Reuters could not verify the authenticity of either video.

But on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari  appealed to Nigerians not to let terrorists divide the country along religious lines following the execution by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The president made the call in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.

“I am profoundly saddened and shocked by the death of innocent hostages in the hands of remorseless, godless, callous gangs of mass murderers that have given Islam a bad name through their atrocities.

“We should not, under any circumstance, let the terrorists divide us by turning Christians against Muslims because these barbaric killers don’t represent Islam and millions of other law-abiding Muslims around the world.

“As a president, the collective security of all Nigerians is my major preoccupation and the death of an innocent Christian or Muslim distresses me.”

Buhari said the terrorists had no clearly defined agenda except the pursuit of evil through indiscriminate murder of innocent people, contrary to the teachings of Islam, which prohibits massacre.

According to him, no true Muslim will be shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while killing innocent people, an evil frequently condemned by the Holy Qur’an.

“These agents of darkness are enemies of our common humanity and they don’t spare any victim, whether they are Muslims or Christians, and therefore, we shouldn’t let them divide us and turn us against one another.

“The goal of these psychopaths is to cause confusion and spread distrust between Muslims and Christians, despite the fact that they aren’t representing the interest of Muslims or Islam,” he added.

 

Sexual allegation scandal in the vineyard

All eyes were on the church at the second quarter of the year, precisely, June, when a rape allegation was leveled against popular cleric and Senior Pastor of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo, by popular musician, Timi Dakolo’s wife, Busola.

The incident, which many described as an embarrassment to the church, generated a lot of reaction which also became a major public discourse.

This development made the cleric to step down as the leader of the church for months. Some aggrieved Nigerians also staged a protest, especially at the premises of the branches of the church across the country and its headquarters in Abuja.

However, Fatoyinbo was cleared by the court while a fine of N1 million was imposed on Mrs Dakolo.

A related case was the alleged involvement of a Texas-based cleric in United States of America in a sex video. The cleric, Pastor David Wilson of the BibleWay Ministries and World Outreach Church, was caught in the act in a leaked video allegedly engaging in oral sex with a member of his church.

Another scandal also surfaced recently following a sex video involving two students of a faith-based institution of higher learning, Babcock University, which went viral in November.

The development, involving a 300-level female student of the Department of Accounting and an ex-student of the institution, embarrassed the institution and its owners, Seventh Day Adventist Church, making the institution to issue a statement on the incident.

 

Clerics in kidnappers den

It should be on record that 2019 witnessed the highest number of clerics that were abducted. Many clerics especially in the North were kidnapped and many were killed due to inability to pay the ransom demanded. In fact, in two or three instances, clerics were reportedly killed even after ransoms were paid.

The church was thrown into confusion when the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, announced the abduction of a pastor and four parishioners of the church on their way to this year’s Holy Ghost Convention in August.

The five were Chidioze Eluwa, Chiemela Iroha, Okoro Ohowukwe, Ndubuizi Owuabueze, and Ibeleji Chidinma and they were reportedly abducted at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, on their way to pre-conference ministers’ meeting, at the RCCG camp.

They were, however, rescued a few days after their kidnap.

Another case was the kidnap of a Senior Pastor of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Dankade in Igabi Local Government area of Kaduna State, Reverend Zakariah Ido and 16 members of the church in May.

It was reported that the cleric and the 16 people, among who were his daughter and son, were seized by gunmen within the church premises during service on Sunday.

Another kidnap incident affected the Living Faith Church popularly known as Winners Chapel of Bishop David Oyedepo when one of his clerics, Pastor Jeremiah Omolewa, who heads the church branch at the Ungwan Romi in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, was abducted alongside his family.

It was learnt that Omolewa was killed by the abductors and his wife held by them for days while their son escaped.

The kidnappers demanded N50 million ransoms before they could release the pastor’s wife. She was, however, said to have regained her freedom after the payment of N3 million ransom according to a source.

Less than two weeks after the Omolewa incident, another cleric fell into the hands of kidnappers. The pastor-in-charge of the Nagarta Baptist Church, Ungwan Makiri, close to Udawa in Chikun Local Government Area of the State.

The pastor was said to have been abducted by heavily-armed men numbering over 20. The armed men reportedly invaded his residence and forcefully took him and his son away on August 14.

It was also in the news that a Protestant pastor and a Catholic priest in two different states in the North-Central of Nigeria were kidnapped by gunmen in March 25.

Reverend Emmanuel Haruna of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) was kidnapped at gunpoint outside his home on church premises in Gidan Ausa, Nasarawa State. Also a chaplain of the Boys Brigade, Nasarawa State Council, who was said to be searching for a better signal to make a phone call was kidnapped.

It was also reported that on March 25 in Kaduna State, gunmen reportedly abducted the priest of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Reverend John Bako Shekwolo, in Ankwa Kachia Local Government.

Christians in the South-Eastern part of the country also felt the heat of the security challenges in the country as there were cases of kidnapping and attacks on clerics.

Gunmen killed a Catholic priest in Enugu, Enugu State, Reverend Father Clement Ugwu, who was said to have been kidnapped from his parish, St Mark Catholic Church, Obinofia Ndiuno in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The decomposing body of the cleric was found in a bush a week after he was  kidnapped. He was reportedly kidnapped on March 13, around 9:00 p.m. after they had shot him in his church premises.

Also, the parish priest of St James Greater, Ugbakwa in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, Reverend Father Paul Offu, was killed on the Ihe-Agbudu road in Awgu on August 1 by suspected armed herdsmen.

These and many more cases of abduction of clerics, their families and other members of the church dominated the media space in the year, making many top Christian leaders to raise the alarm on what some of them referred to as persecution of Christians.

 

RCCG pastor in UK, two children drown in swimming pool on Christmas Eve in Spain

A Nigerian-born pastor in Britain, Gabriel Diya, 52; his daughter Comfort Diya, nine; and his son, Praise-Emmanuel Diya, 16, were on Thursday, December 26, named as the tourists who drowned inside the swimming pool at the Club La Costa World complex in Spain on Christmas Eve.

Pastor Diya, who was a pastor at Open Heavens London in Charlton, which is a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in south-east London, and his daughter were both carrying British passport while his son was travelling on a US passport.

His wife, Olubunmi Diya, 49, and younger daughter, Favour Diya, 14, were also on the holiday but were not affected during the incident.

On Thursday, the two of them were said to have told investigators that none of their relatives could properly swim and only nine-year-old Comfort had ‘some idea’.

It is feared that the family could have fallen victim to a suction problem which made it impossible for the nine-year-old girl’s father and brother to rescue her after she got into difficulties at the resort.

But the exact circumstances of their deaths remained a mystery as resort chiefs said they had been given permission to reopen the pool and insisted a police investigation had found ‘no concerns’ with it.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God in south-east London on Thursday posted in tribute on Facebook: “With heavy hearts, we extend our condolences to the family, parish, friends and associates of Area Pastor Gabriel Diya who sadly passed away, along with two of his children … in a tragic incident while on a family holiday in Spain.

“At this very difficult time, our prayers are for Pastor Gabriel Diya’s family, the parishes that were under his supervision, friends, associates, members of RCCG and the general public.”

Christendom