How Bishop allegedly raped woman during prayer

by adenike ayodele

A 25-year-old woman (name withheld) told an Ikeja sexual offenses and domestic violence court on Wednesday how a bishop, Oluwafairopo Daniel, allegedly raped her while she was praying.

The alleged rape took place at the cleric’s residence in Lekki, Lagos State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bishop is standing trial on amended three-count charges of rape and sexual assault, to which he pleaded not guilty.

The alleged victim/survivor testified at the resumed trial of the defendants.

The witness, who was a member of a church founded by the respondent, was led by the leading counsel for the State, Shri Babajide Boe.

According to the alleged survivor, she was at her sister’s shop in Osogbo on January 2, 2019, when her cousin was on the phone listening to the bishop’s sermon.

“I told my cousin the sermon was good and he told me the name of the church which I found and followed their page on Facebook.

“After that, I was able to chat with Faye on Facebook and she added me to a WhatsApp group called the Spiritual Sonship Group,” she testified.

The alleged victim told the court that she first met the defendant at a camp in 2019 when the church was on a three-day retreat.

“Later he had an event at the OAU that I attended and met Brother Isaac, one of his spiritual sons, and we exchanged numbers.

“From the Sonship group, I made an Assistant Pastor/First Prosecution Witness (PW1) (not named) my prayer partner because, irrespective of our gender, we call ourselves sons.

“On the WhatsApp group, Fai put out a message that all sons should choose a convenient time to fast for 70 days, pray for two hours and take a break at 6 p.m. daily, and come to Lagos for the laying on of hands after the fast. should,” she testified.

The witness told the court that the defendant had asked him to personally come to Lagos to hold hands after the fast.

“On September 8, 2019, I told him (first prosecution witness, PW1) that I was going to Lagos to hold the handover but the program started late and there was nowhere to sleep as I had no one with whom I May I live Lagos

“PW1 asked me to call and tell Faye that I had no one to stay for the night, and I did.

“They said there was no problem, and this forced me to follow them to their house with some other members, including Bro Israel and his wife, but they left the house later that same day,” she said.

The eyewitness said that a woman named Rachel took him to a room where he slept.

“The next morning, Fai came out of her room and put her hand on my head and started praying for me in the dining room, after which I greeted her.

“I went inside the room to start preparing to go to Osogbo, and he told me there was food in the kitchen, I should eat.

“I was eating dinner when he came to visit me again and said, ‘Are you on your period?’

“I said, ‘No’,” and he went back to his room.

She said, “In the morning I didn’t see Rachel, although we slept in the same room.”

The alleged survivor further told the court that the respondent again came to him and told him that he had an instruction for him but wanted to hear it himself.

She said: “In Faye’s living room are two pictures of Babajide David Olulana, a prophet who she told me was her spiritual father.

“Fei told me to take a picture and stare at it so I could hear the instructions for myself, which I did.

“After a while, he came out of his room and asked if I heard anything.

I told him, “No”. He then said that the picture was talking to me but I could not receive it.

“He said that his spiritual father would use another medium to speak to me.

“Then I got a text message on my phone in which the sender showed Babajide. I could not call the number but the message read, ‘Whatever your father tells you to do, do it for your own good’.

According to the witness, the defendant later came outside and asked if he had received any signs.

“I told him I got a message. He said I should delete the message.

“Faye told me that when I was born, my aunt had done something to me that had stopped my progress in life.

“He said that the instruction he had received was to help me so that I could be free from my aunt.

“I asked what the instruction was, and he said the instruction was for him to have sex with me.

“I was confused at this point. His eyes had already rolled and he asked me to go to my room.

She told the court that when she reached there, two portraits of Prophet Babajide were on the bed.

“He (the defendant) was playing a Christian song on his phone with the title ‘Let Praise Rise’.

“He pushed me on the bed, I tried to move away but he pulled me back as I was already naked.

“While Fai was speaking in tongues, he was having sex with me,” she testified.

The witness further told the court that the defendant told her that she would die if she told anyone about the alleged rape.

She said that the defendant raped her on other occasions and she became pregnant for him but was lost in an accident on the Ilorin-Ibadan road.

Justice Ramon Oshodi adjourned the matter to May 25 for the trial to continue.

(NAN) www.nannews.ng