Nollywood actor, Emeka Ike, has accused the Pastor of the Household of
God Church, Lagos, Chris Okotie, of being behind the crisis rocking
his marriage. But, the ‘funky’ pastor described the allegation as
“rubbish”.
Ike had, in a statement on Thursday, accused Okotie of stalling
efforts he is making to save his marriage with Suzanne.
Trouble started in Ike’s home recently, when the wife accused him of
assaulting him.
While the actor has repeatedly denied this, the woman is said to have
filed for a divorce in a Lagos court. Ike alleged that instead of
Okotie, who he claimed to have admitted Suzanne to his church, to
intervene in the matter, he was encouraging her to pursue the case.
He also claimed that the pastor gave the woman N500, 000 to hire a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He added, “Yes, Pastor Chris Okotie just
absolved (sic) my wife into his church without making any effort to
get in touch with me.
“If, as a pastor, your church member is having issues with her
husband, and you fail to do anything to resolve it, what kind of
pastor are you? When I called him, he refused to pick my call. He also
failed to react to a text message I sent to him. Is that a man of God?
“Even, if you have a police case, they will make an effort to hear
from you before taking a position, not to talk of the church. I want
the whole world to know because there is a lot of misinformation out
there. The lawyer which Okotie hired for my wife is also frustrating
every attempt I make to resolve the matter peacefully.”
But speaking through his media consultant in a telephone interview
with our correspondent on Thursday, Mr. Ladi Ayodeji, media consultant
to Okotie, said Ike’s allegations were so baseless that the he was not
prepared to dignify them with a comment.
He said, “There is nothing to what he is saying. It is total rubbish.
What is he saying? Why will the pastor be interested in his domestic
issue? Will he say he wants to marry the woman?
“What kind of man will be saying that kind of things on the Internet?
Why is it that each time any of them has any issue they always want to
bring Okotie into it? Responding to the outburst will only make the
guy feel important. The pastor can’t dignify him with any.”