Defilement of minors by clergies breeds distrust among worshippers

More than 58 children were reportedly defiled by men of God at various times in the country.

They defiled the minors and assaulted teenagers while conducting spiritual cleansing, deliverance, and other spiritual activities.

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Some of these cases occurred in worship centres.

Aside from the stigma and scar on the victims, some were impregnated, infected with sexually transmitted diseases and subjected to inhumane activities.

The trend has led to distrust among Nigerians.

A 48-year-old Pastor Nduka Anyanwu was among the 44 clerics to have been arrested since 2019.

He pleaded guilty before a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, to defiling and impregnating two teenage sisters.

He would be sentenced on September 15.

Among some of the reported cases were instances of some men of God defiling their daughters, impregnating them and making them abort the pregnancies.

Children of church interpreters, worshippers and neighbours were severally defiled in what worshippers said had become a disturbing trend.

A child rights activist, Mr Femi Adesida of Save The Child Initiative (STCI), Abuja said the phenomena were increasing among clergies because they were trusted by the society and allowed free access to children.

He said families also take their children to these clergies for prayers and other forms of rituals; hence the tendency to abuse them.

He further said excessive and blind trust for religious leaders by parents and guardians led to the increasing cases, adding that poor parent-child communication and lack of awareness by parents could also be responsible.

Mrs Bridget Olusegun agreed with Mr Adesida, saying that parents should stop putting so much trust in their pastors, to the extent of handling their children, especially teenagers to them for counselling instead of doing it at home.

She said as a preventive measure, she engaged her children in sex education.

She said, “I made them talk to me about any issue, so we are close and free to discuss issues relating to God and never to trust anyone except mummy.”

She added that most churches have a protocol department and the officers in this department should always be on the lookout for the children, whether boy or girl.

She also said children’s teachers would have to do more of monitoring them so that no one would take advantage of them.

An Abuja resident, Kikelomo Kayode, said cases of children being defiled and molested in a church called for more attention by church administrators, worshippers and the government.

“These children were defiled in their homes by their parents, uncles, aunties, and neighbours, and now priests, in worship centres?

“It is getting out of hand. In fact, it has gotten out of hand and it cannot continue this way.

“Nowhere is safe. If a cleric can rape his daughter, don’t you think it would be easier for him to do the same to other children?

“It is a shame because they are expected to be of high moral standard and you hear them doing this shameful act and blaming the devil. They are the devil,” she said.

She continued, “One cannot be too careful. I do not allow my children to be alone with anybody, not only in churches but also in schools and at home.

“I have two boys. These things also happen to boys, so I take their safety seriously.

“I know only God can look after them, but I still try my best and God has been helping me.”

Another parent, Mrs Eleanor Igbo, said clerics should be made to conduct consultations, deliverances or other activities in the open, and if such an act must be done behind closed doors, there should be witnesses, especially when it involves the opposite sex.

She said her children were taught and warned not to consult or visit any pastor without her consent, and she has to accompany them, regardless of the issue to be discussed.

An Abuja-based teacher, Mrs Gloria David, said church administrations should ensure people that fear God and have passion for children are put in charge of them and not just anybody.

She said parents should also teach their children not to sit on anybody’s lap, not to receive gifts, and should not allow any man to touch any sensitive part of their bodies.

“If you teach your child all these things from home, it will make her bold to react to any negative action from any man,” she said.

Mr Adesida said religious houses, institutions and clergies should be vetted to ensure they do not have child abuse records. And guards should be assigned to children in religious houses, especially children under the care of clergies.

He said diligent prosecution and punishment of offenders was important to deter such occurrences in worship centres.

“As part of awareness creation, children should be sensitised to develop boldness to raise the  alarm when advances are made towards them.”

The Executive Director, MAMA Centre, Chioma Kanu expressed concerned that rape and other traumatic and injury-inflicted activities like sexual abuses or assault against women are allowed to drag or go unpunished in most cases without adequate policy response to sanction and bring perpetrators to justice.

“This allows for a continued trend of the criminality. Cases of rape or sexual assault must be publicly condemned and adequately sanctioned without fear or favour. The cases must not be treated with levity in all policy responses and judicial interpretations.

“The perpetrators of such dehumanizing and degrading behaviour against minors must be appropriately punished to show a good example and our sincerity to address the plight of women and girls in the country.

“We call for full implementation of the VAPP Act across the country. We also call for adequate capturing of religion centres and other institutions in all well-intended efforts to adopt and implement Anti-sexual Harassment Bill at all levels. These will help to mitigate increasing trend and challenges of rape and sexual assault in the country,” Kanu

A pastor of a Pentecostal church in Abuja, Henry Nwachia, attributed the rising trend in defilement of minors among pastors to lack of the fear of God.

“With the fear of God you will know that you are serving a living God. If you are not out to feed your stomach you would guard your calling jealously and would not want any stain whatsoever,” he said.

He also said background and home training should be considered by churches in anointing or making someone to head a church.

“Before one is anointed to be a pastor, he must have a very good foundation, and the pastor doing the ordination should have done due diligence.

“Though it takes the grace of God to run the race, there is also a need for thorough checks,” he said.

An Abuja-based Islamic scholar, Ustaadh Ali Onigbanjo, said unlawful sexual relations with a minor or an adult is prohibited in Islam and it attracts a capital punishment of either 100 lashes and one-year banishment or stoning to death, depending on the marital status of the offender.

“If he is married or divorced, he will be stoned to death after it has been properly established that he raped or defiled a woman or girl.

“But if he is not married, he will be given 100 lashes, with one-year banishment,’’ he said.

According to him, it doesn’t make any difference whether defilement or rape is committed against a minor or an adult.

He further said rape was essentially zina (fornication or adultery) and is proven in the same way as zina, which is with four witnesses.

According to Islamic scholars, if rape is committed using the threat of a weapon or if the woman is abducted forcefully from her home, then it becomes a case of haraabah (banditry or terrorising the people), which is proven with two witnesses only.

The punishment for it is mentioned in the verse in which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off on the opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in this world and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter”[al-Maa’idah 5:33].

He said the perpetrator would become subject to this hard punishment merely by abducting the woman forcefully, regardless of whether he has his way with her or not.