Her big tithe caught her pastor’s attention. What followed was beyond imaginable and changed everything for her

• A woman says her pastor noticed her large tithes and began targeting her financially.

• She says she spent almost ₦500,000 on the pastor and his family while struggling to buy a shoe for her father.

• She alleges the pastor took control of her finances and sexually abused her.

• A PUNCH investigation found other alleged cases involving Christian and Muslim clerics.

When Oluremi Sokoya (not her real name) joined a Pentecostal church in Ikorodu, Lagos, in January 2022, she expected to find a place where she could worship and grow in her faith.

Instead, she says her generosity soon made her stand out to the pastor, and what started with compliments about her giving eventually turned into financial exploitation and alleged sexual abuse.

Sokoya, a 28-year-old entrepreneur, had been a member of the church for more than a year and was also part of the pastor’s protocol team before she decided to leave in June 2023.

According to an investigative report by Saturday PUNCH, the pastor, who was in his late 40s, first noticed Sokoya because of the size of her tithes and offerings.

“He called me one service and said he noticed I gave well to the Lord and encouraged me to continue, saying that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That was when it began,” she told PUNCH.

Sokoya said the pastor began checking on her whenever she missed church because of her work and would visit her home because she lived close to the church.

She said their relationship then shifted towards money and church projects.

“From there, he started talking about church projects I could help with and testimonies of how God blessed someone after giving sacrificially. I started to contribute to these projects. If I didn’t, he would call my name at the altar and say I must drop some money,” she recounted.

According to Sokoya, the pastor eventually began taking advantage of her generosity and gained control over her finances.

She alleged that she bought groceries, expensive clothes and shoes for the pastor and his family and that he would sometimes take her debit card to make purchases.

“This bald man who calls himself a pastor, whom I can never in my life respect, began to take advantage of my kindness. I was buying things for him and his family. I bought them groceries, expensive clothing and shoes. This pastor had complete control over my finances,” she said.

Sokoya said she reached a point where she was spending money on the pastor that she could not spare for her own family.

“At that time, I couldn’t even take my money to buy a new shoe for my father, but I would be buying clothes for this man. I won’t lie to you, I spent almost half a million on this man within months,” she told PUNCH.

But according to her account, the alleged exploitation was not limited to money.

Sokoya alleged that the pastor inappropriately touched her and attempted to sexually abuse her on several occasions.

She recalled one incident in which the pastor allegedly asked her to bring food to his church office.

Sokoya said she asked what he wanted to eat and he replied that he wanted bread and egg, but also wanted to “eat” her. She said she initially dismissed the comment as a joke because the pastor often joked with her.

However, she alleged that when she arrived at his office with the food, he shut the door and windows, switched on his phone’s torch because the room was dark, held her and began touching her breasts.

“I had to lie that my father needed me urgently to escape his grip,” she told PUNCH.

Sokoya said she later discovered that the pastor was allegedly involved with other women, prompting her to leave the church.

The investigation reported that the matter was reported to the police in May 2023 and that about ₦400,000 was eventually refunded to Sokoya in instalments. PUNCH did not report a conviction against the pastor in connection with her allegations.

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Sokoya’s account formed part of a wider investigation into Nigerians who allegedly lost money while seeking financial, health or personal solutions through religious figures.

The investigation found that the alleged exploitation cuts across religious lines, with cases involving both Christian and Muslim clerics.

One of the Christian cases involved a man identified as Uwakwe, who reportedly sought the help of a self-acclaimed prophet because he wanted his brother, who had left Nigeria in 1997, to return to the country.

According to the report, Uwakwe said he was persuaded to pay ₦6.2m for spiritual work.

The investigation also examined the activities of a self-acclaimed prophet, Cheya, in Enugu. According to the report, members alleged that Cheya sold spiritual and material “prosperity products”, including “miracle stickers”, “spiritual dragons” and “Holy Ghost thunder”.

In July, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission secured Cheya’s conviction after he pleaded guilty to charges that he obtained ₦136m from church members under false pretences between 2023 and February 2025.

The court sentenced him to one year in prison with an option of a ₦500,000 fine and ordered the forfeiture of his landed property, with the proceeds to be used as restitution for victims.

The investigation also documented cases involving people who presented themselves as Islamic clerics.

In one case, police arraigned two self-proclaimed Islamic clerics, Saheed Aremu and Tolani Osuolale, over the alleged defrauding of a medical doctor of ₦280m.

The police alleged that the defendants convinced the doctor, Patrick Akaraiwe, that his money needed spiritual fortification before he could invest in property.

According to the report, they allegedly collected $200,000, said to be about ₦270m at the time, in three instalments. They were arraigned on charges including advance fee fraud, obtaining by false pretences, impersonation, conspiracy and stealing. The case remained before the court at the time covered by the investigation.

Another case involved a 55-year-old Islamic cleric, Olaide Ajala, who was charged before an Ibadan magistrate’s court over alleged ₦7.6m fraud.

The prosecution alleged that Ajala and others obtained ₦7m from a man under the pretence of conducting prayers to solve his business problems. Ajala pleaded not guilty and was granted bail.

The cases illustrate the wider concern raised by the investigation: people who turn to religious figures for answers during vulnerable moments can sometimes become targets for financial exploitation.

EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede also told PUNCH that religious institutions are not immune from fraudulent practices.

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“I have a lot of them (religious leaders) in my holding facility as I’m talking to you. I have a lot of them that are convicted for fraudulent practices,” he said, stressing that wrongdoing was a reflection of individual morals rather than religious affiliation.

Olukoyede said both Christian and Muslim institutions could be susceptible to corruption, noting that some pastors, bishops and imams had faced prosecution and conviction.

For Sokoya, however, the issue remains deeply personal.

What began with a pastor noticing that she “gave well to the Lord” ended, according to her account, with her losing control of her finances, spending almost half a million naira on the pastor and his family, and alleging that he sexually abused her.

Her story is one of several cases examined by Saturday PUNCH in its investigation into the financial exploitation of people seeking help through religious channels.