“Can somebody say alleluia?” Pastor Afolabi urged right from his pulpit.
“Alleluia!” the congregants chorused unanimously in a high tone.
“Can someone shout a bigger alleluia?”
“Alle – lu – ia!!” they reiterated in a more thunderous tone.
“The Lord is good.” shouted Pastor Afolabi who wore white suit alongside
white plain trousers and black plain shoes.
“All the time.” They followed suit as the tradition requested.
Pastor Ken Afolabi, a 48-year-old father of five, of the Jehovah Rescue
International Church was a well-known ordained man of God who was seen by all
and sundry, both within and beyond, as a man who knew his onions. Everyone
including the onlookers felt elated whenever they had a glance of him; needless
to state that he wasn’t just highly respected but a reputable cleric. He spent
most of his time conducting deliverance among members of his church’s
congregation who yearned for such as well as invariably took time to let
impecunious individuals understood that the sky was their stepping stone if
they so believed. This singular feature of his person made people, particularly
the economically less-privileged, see him as a god-sent.
“Good morning, Pastor.” Mrs Kemi greeted,
head bent immediately after the church service.
She had walked up to him the moment he
stepped out of the church building, about entering his private car.
“Good morning, madam…” he
responded cheerfully. “Mrs Kolawole, right?” He quickly recollected, pointing
one of his left fingers at her.
“Yes Pastor.” She clarified, waist bent as a mark of respect.
Mrs Kemi Kolawole was one of the staunch members of the church that
could boast of about three hundred consistent worshippers.
“Hope all is well?” Pastor Afolabi inquired, stylishly leaning on his
ash Toyota Corolla car.
“Pastor, I will like to see you.” She hinted, standing about a metre
away from him.
Mrs Kemi got married to her lovely husband Mr Gbenga Kolawole three
years back; the couple was yet to boast of a baby’s cry, and it presumed that
no pregnancy was forthcoming. They thought it wise that it was high time they
sought the cleric’s intervention, spiritual wise, after series of persuasions
from the affected woman. The partners, who wedded at the said church, met each
other there prior to their union; so they could confide in the cleric for any
kind of consultation.
“Okay,” the resplendent Pastor Afolabi
replied. “Let’s meet in my office tomorrow being Monday.”
“Around what time, Sir?” the 37-year-old Mrs
kemi enquired, stood still.
“Would 10am be okay by you?”
“Yes Pastor.”
“Okay then,” he said, shook his car keys. “Let’s meet by 10.” He landed,
dashed into the car.
“Thank you, Sir.” She appreciated, majestically took her leave.
The following day, they met as scheduled. During the meeting, having
disclosed to the cleric her mission, he suggested deliverance for her which according
to him would be due after a rigorous seven days fasting and prayer to be
observed by the couple. In addition, he told her that while the proposed
fasting period lasts, she would be expected to spend her days and nights in the
church, after which she would be eligible to go home.
After all said and done, few weeks later, Mrs
kemi took in; the segment ushered in a jubilation galore in her matrimonial
home. Nine months on, she successfully gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. She
was named Opeyemi.
At this time, her hubby Mr Kolawole couldn’t hesitate to disclose to
everyone that came to cheer with the family that Pastor Afolabi was the brain
behind the family’s emancipation.
Subsequently, in four years time, the couple Mr & Mrs Kolawole could
boast of three children – two males and a female.
Opeyemi the first child and only daughter of the couple wasn’t
academically bright, hence they considered sending her to a boarding school
where she would be closely monitored towards attaining academic excellence,
though the school she was sent to – Greater Children Primary School was also
situated in Ekiti State, South-West, Nigeria, where her parents hailed from and
lived too. When she got to 11 years, she proceeded her secondary education in
Greater Teenagers Secondary School, a sister school to the former, founded by
the same proprietor.
Coincidentally, Pastor Ken Afolabi
was in good terms with the Proprietor of the aforesaid schools, Chief Dan
Olabiyi. So the cleric usually went to both schools, which were situated in the
same compound, to counsel the pupils and students. This was one of the reasons
Opeyemi’s parents sent her to the school.
At 17, Opeyemi wasn’t living up to the expectations, most especially regarding
her social life; and she alongside her peers were preparing for their Senior
Secondary Certificate Examinations (SSCE). Hence, her Principal sent her to
Pastor Afolabi’s office for private counselling, and deliverance if necessary,
as it was often done in the school. The cleric never knew the girl’s parental
background and he wasn’t bothered to ascertain either.
Having met the cleric, it was
assumed that all her problems had been solved. Funnily enough, few weeks later,
Opeyemi tested positive to pregnancy; the diagnosis, which was conducted by the
effort of her school’s management, was occasioned by the abrupt weird attitudes
of the teenager.
When the news was broken to her parents Mr & Mrs Kolawole, it was
like the end of the world for the family. Everything was ostensibly happening
at breakneck speed.
When interrogated by her parents right before the school’s management,
Opeyemi disclosed unequivocally that Pastor Ken Afolabi was solely responsible
for the pregnancy.
“What…?” Her mother, Mrs Kemi managed to exclaim, passed out instantly.
Everybody stared at the poor girl in silent awe.
The untold truth remained that Opeyemi was Pastor Afolabi’s daughter; a
secret only known and kept by the cleric and Opeyemi’s mum, Mrs. Kemi Kolawole.
That very week 17-years back when she was placed on a compulsory one-week
fasting, which made her to spend nights at the church, owing to her alleged inability
to conceive, the cleric convinced her to sleep with him, stating that that was
the only way she could take in; and the hidden melodrama yielded Opeyemi.
But as God would have it, Opeyemi’s siblings were Mr Kolawole’s
biological children; which implied that the couple was just impatient or in a
hurry to have a child.
Opeyemi was raped by the so-called pastor - her supposed biological father,
right in his office on that very day she was sent to him by her school’s
principal. She was urged by the randy cleric not to discuss the incident with
anybody, unknowingly to him that the unwarranted tango would yield a forbidden
fruit.
So, are we to charge the cleric for deceit, infidelity, adultery, rape,
incest, paedophilia, or what have you? Think about it!
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