The founder and General Overseer of the Living Christ Mission, Obiajunwa Onukogu, popularly known as Daddy Hezekiah, has been accused of sexually abusing two women when they were minors attending church programmes more than two decades ago.
In separate written testimonies, Kelechi Ibe, 39, and Onyekachi J. Eze, 40, recently made the allegations.
The alleged victims said they are finally speaking publicly about their ordeal after years of silence.
The women alleged that the incidents occurred in the 1990s when they belonged to the “Princess of Daddy Hezekiah,” a church group for young girls participating in programmes in Port Harcourt, Onitsha and the church headquarters in Nkwerre, Imo State.
According to their testimonies, parents often left after the opening days of conventions, leaving their children in the care of church officials until the events ended.
The women alleged that they were repeatedly summoned to the cleric’s private quarters under the pretext of confirming that they had remained virgins, where they were subjected to inappropriate sexual touching while they were minors.
They further alleged that they were warned not to disclose the incidents to anyone, including their parents or fellow group members, leaving them too frightened to speak out for years.
Narrating her experience, Ibe said the alleged abuse began when she was about 12 or 13 years old and occurred repeatedly during church conventions. She said she eventually disclosed her experience after she and her sister, also a former member of the group, compared their experiences after leaving the church.
On her part, Eze alleged that the abuse began during a church visit to Onitsha and continued after she joined the same group in Port Harcourt.
The women said they later discovered similarities in their experiences and believed other former members of the group may have had similar encounters.
They identified some of those they said had come forward as Nkechi Nwofor, Angela Michael, Sopuruchukwu, Nkiru Arum, Vivian Nmezi and Ihegboro Chibuzo.
The women said the experiences had long-lasting emotional effects and that they hoped their testimonies would encourage other survivors to come forward.
Meanwhile, Onukogu and Living Christ Mission had yet to officially respond to the accusations at the time of this report.
Living Christ Mission General Overseer ‘Daddy Hezekiah’ accused of sexual abuse