BEVERLY HILLS, September 03, (THEWILL) – Embattled General Overseer of Tongue of Fire Restoration Ministry located in Igbosere, Lagos, Chukwuemeka Nwocha, who is alleged to have harboured 13 underaged girls as sex slaves in a three-bedroomed harem, has explained that his mission was only to help the girls.
Speaking while being paraded before newsmen at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja on Friday, he claimed that Satan used the minors against him.
The 36-year-old Nwocha explained that it all started when the children in his church, who called him “Daddy, daddy”, told him they would like to visit him.
His words, “I only tried to help the girls.When the first girl came, she said she did not have anywhere to go. I did not know her parents. I am a pastor and I felt pity for her. After spending three days, I told her she needed to go out and bring some of her relations so that they would know where she was. But she did not.
“Later, some parents in my church also said they would like to send their children to live with me. Some of them came to spend holidays after their exam.”
He insisted the parents knew they were in his house. But after telling stories that diverted attention from allegations that he raped the girls and had also forced some of them to do abortions, he paused and shook his head.
“I am a pastor, the devil only used the children against me. I did not rape them. I only slept with Moji (real name withheld). She is my girlfriend and we actually planned to marry.
When asked how old the girl he mentioned was, he said she was about to clock 17. On whether the parents of the girls he claimed knew their whereabouts also knew he was sexually abusing them, he said yes.
The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, earlier explained that the pastor housed the girls with the promise of paying their school fees, feeding them and buying gifts for them.
“While they were in his house, three of them became pregnant and he took them for abortions. He first denied all the allegations but like all criminals, he later confessed to raping them without using protection,” he said.
The Commissioner maintained that Nwocha would be prosecuted along with whoever conspired with him to commit the crimes.
