Lekki Pastor moves church to secret location over sex tape scandal

Background

After the sex tape hit the internet, Apostle Omatsola and Ms. Okpe both blamed each other for the leak; Omatsola claimed Okpe demanded N200m from him while Okpe claimed Omatsola leaked the video to force her into marrying him — it’s been a bloodbath of reaction since then.

Punch Metro correspondents confirm that Apostle Omatsoni, a Delta State native had dated Ms. Okpe for about seven months in 2018 and the sex tape was leaked a few months after their relationship had ended.

When the sex tape leaked, Omatsola posted this on his Facebook page, “Let he or she that is without a sin among you be the first to cast a stone. Friends, pray for the church of God; pray for Zionwealth Church; pray for #ChrisOmatsola.God bless you. #ApostleChrisOmatsola#IstandwithACO #ZionwealthChurch #SatanWillNotWin #John8v7.”

Speaking to Punch Metro, Omatsola further claims he could not have released the video as he has more to lose from such leak. He also claims depression and interestingly, that he regrets ever having premarital sex. He has since moved his Admiralty Way, Lekki, and Bendid Plaza, Ado Road, Ajah branches of his church.

He posted the following message on his Facebook page, “First of all, I was wrong to have had a sex date with somebody I was supposed to marry. But this should not be an instrument of blackmail. It’s really outrageous. My followers know the truth. They know who they are following.”

Okpe’s account

In a statement, Okpe, a Computer Science graduate claims that the erstwhile couple liked taking pictures and recording video of their “intimate moments,” and also claims Omatsola started beating her till she bled.

She details, “I met Apostle Chris Kevwe Omatsola, the founder and pastor of Zionwealth of Life Assembly (Zola) in Lekki, Lagos, and we started dating in February 2018. It quickly escalated to a sexual relationship and when we had sex the first time, he told me that we should make it right by getting married. We continued our romance and one of the things we did together was recording videos and taking pictures of our intimacy.

“I informed my mum about a guy coming for my hand in marriage and she said she was going to pray about it. Everything was rosy until he became violent and constantly beat me up till I bled. He came begging after each episode and I forgave him.”

“In August, I called off the relationship and I was surprised that he accepted it in good faith initially, given his penchant for violence.

“Sometime in August, he asked that we meet to talk on platonic grounds. During the meeting, he became hostile when he realised that I was no longer interested in him. He also refused to drop me off at home. He beat me up, seized my phone, forced me to unlock it and retrieved contacts from it just to track who I was seeing.

“That was the final straw for me; so I never saw him again till September when he showed up at my place, crying and begging. I refused to fall for his tricks and there was no further communication from both sides till sometime early October when he apologised again.

“On October 13, he contacted me with an anonymous number via with pictures, videos, and threatening messages, saying if I did not come back to him, he was going to release everything.”

Okpe claims that later that day, her attention was called to the raunchy pictures and videos of her circling the internet. She says she regrets the relationship which has made her an object of mockery within family and friends. Omatsola was arrested on October 14, 2018, after she reported the matter to the police.

“He said now that my pictures and videos were out there, no man would want to look my way again; that it was best we got married.

“After the arrest, in the presence of his dad, he confessed to releasing the pictures and video. He apologised to me, my family, his family, and the public. This was recorded on October 19, 2018, and I am in possession of the video. He even accepted to pay damages.

“I was wrong to have been involved in premarital sex with a pastor. I was wrong to have allowed him to persuade me to record our intimate moments. I have been fielding questions from my colleagues. I hope that this will pass soon.”

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Omatsola’s account

For his part, Omatsola claims he never released the video. He further claims the second video of him confessing was done under duress.

“I never did anything of that nature and she does not have anything to prove it (assault). How do you, a popular pastor with a church in Lekki Phase One, leak your own sex video with your face on it? How does that work?

“That video (confessional video) was done under duress because I was picked up by the same lady and she demanded N200m (from me) for leaking the video, which I did not leak. She has it on her phone and I have it on my phone. So, she picked me up. My dad and the lawyer agreed that I should do a (confessional) video and it was under duress.

“The police were there, the Investigating Police Officer was there; I am supposed to pay that girl N1m before the end of this month.

“This (sex) video came from an unknown telephone number. I started getting calls on Sunday morning while I was in church and somebody said my sex video was all over the Internet. I called the blog that posted it to take it down.

“The next day, the police came to arrest me for it. I went to the station and I was detained; my lawyer came to take my bail. I was taken to the police headquarters where I was told that part of the conditions for bail was for me to make that (confessional) video. I needed to do it to come out to defend myself. You can’t defend yourself in a cell.”

CSP Chike Oti, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer claims investigations are ongoing and that his office is unaware of any settlement made by Omatsola.

“A case was reported against the pastor who posted a sex video of himself and his girlfriend online. An investigation commenced at the Ajah Police Station and the pastor made a confessional statement that he posted the video. He said he was madly in love and that was why he misbehaved.

“However, because we see it is a case debasing womanhood and betrayal of trust, it was moved to the Gender Section for thorough investigation. At the end of the day, the man was granted administrative bail, while the investigation continued.

“Take anything coming from that man with a pinch of salt because we have established that he is a liar and an imposter. We have established that he has committed a heinous crime against a woman that once loved him. If he could commit the offence against the woman, lying against the police is a piece of cake for him. The confessional video he claimed that he was forced to make was done in the comfort of his car.”

Aftermath of scandal

With the disgraceful scandal that would make normal Nigerians lose faith in their pastor, Omatsola has since claimed he moved his Lekki and Ajah churches to a new location, only known to core church members.

Upon investigation by Punch Metro correspondents to his Admiralty Way, Lekki, and Bendid Plaza, Ado Road, Ajah locations on Sunday, November 4, 2018, it was confirmed that services never held.

When Punch Metro made steps to speak with Omatsola, a spokesperson claimed depressed by the aftermath of the scandal and the size of it all, and is unwilling to speak. When Omatsola finally spoke with the journalists, he claimed he feared for his life.

“A lot of waters have gone under the bridge. We are trying to protect ourselves from the public because they have not really been fair to us. We still have a lot of our people, although this has affected our ministry grossly. Our church is a ministry. It is an assembly of young people.

“We have a location where we meet for now because of what happened; we have been receiving a lot of threats; some people are saying they want to burn our church. We had to change the location to a designated place where we meet and we will not share that with the public because we don’t want the public; we know our people.”

Public outrage

Replying Omatsola’s Facebook posts, One Esther Jack said, “Imagine the way he is even saying it. ‘Sorry to everyone, please forgive and forget’. This man is a vicious type. So unrepentant, uncut (uncouth), pompous and silly. Does it end with ‘forget’ right? When the lady was begging you not to release the nudes, you were feeling like Captain America.”

It’s all a shame.