• Cleric slept with me for 5 years to change my genotype from SS to AA –Sickle cell patient alleges
• Gov’s wife, FIDA, others say justice must be served
From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
A popular bishop in Ebonyi State, Bishop Samuel Onyeagoziri Ndubueze is currently in trouble following allegations by a 22-year-old sickle cell patient, Euphemia Ede, that he deceived her into having sex with him as a way of healing her condition.
Ndubueze is the General Overseer of Champions of the Truth Church in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
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It was gathered that both the bishop and his accuser are currently undergoing counselling. As a result, neither party could be reached for comments.
Ede had appeared as a guest in a podcast, claiming that the cleric had been sleeping with her since 2021 while she was still a secondary school student.
The video clip of the podcast, which was uploaded on social media last week, generated a lot of criticisms across Ebonyi State, with many residents calling on law enforcement agencies, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and women rights groups to investigate and prosecute the cleric.
The podcast came after a sex tape involving her and the cleric went viral. According to the girl in the podcast, the cleric claimed the sex tape was an “AI manipulation.”
“It is not AI generated. I am the girl in that video. I have been begging him to delete it since 2021, but he refused. Now he is lying to cover up,” the girl had said during the podcast interview monitored by Saturday Sun.
In the podcast, the girl recalled that she had lost three of her siblings due to sickle cell complications. She said her parents were desperate to save her from a similar fate when they were introduced to the cleric, apparently for “spiritual solution.”
According to her, the cleric promised healing but insisted that the only “remedy” was for her to sleep with him for seven consecutive days.
Ede who said she was a virgin then in senior secondary school (SS3), said she reluctantly agreed out of fear for her life and in the hope that it might lead to her healing.
“He told me that once he sleeps with me for seven days, my genotype will change from SS to AA. He even said many people had been healed that way.
“I was desperate, my parents were desperate, and so I had no option. He is the one that broke my virginity,” she recounted tearfully.
According to her, contrary to the cleric’s claims, her condition did not change despite having repeated sexual intercourse with him, adding that her sickle cell crisis worsened instead even as she remained in the bishop’s house under threats.
The victim further alleged that the bishop threatened her life with a rifle and forced her to pose for nude photographs during the encounters.
“People see those pictures and say I was smiling, but they don’t know it was out of fear. He said if I didn’t obey, he would kill me and no one would know what happened,” she said in the podcast.’
The girl said she had attempted to leave the cleric’s house between 2021 and 2025, but the cleric often resisted while threatening her and her family.
The victim said the matter escalated this year when the cleric allegedly demanded to marry her despite being a married man and old enough to be her grandfather.
The cleric was later arrested by the state police command on Wednesday last week at his residence in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital. He is currently being detained at the office of the Crack Team of the police in the state police headquarters, Abakaliki after writing his statement.
The state police Public Relations Officer, Joshua Ukandu, confirmed his arrest.
Ukandu, a Superintendent of Police, said the cleric was arrested in response to a petition against him on the matter.
“The investigation is ongoing. So, he is with the police, Nothing has been done on the case yet, I have told the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) to inform me when the matter is moving to court,” he said.
The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in the state, has vowed to follow the case to ensure justice for the girl.
Ode Oluchukwu, FIDA Chairperson in the state, told Saturday Sun that the federation was not happy the way the girl is made not to be seen so as to interact with her and ensure that she gets justice.
She said the federation will go to the office of the police crack team where the cleric was being detained and that if she didn’t get satisfactory information about the case, the members will visit the Commissioner of Police, Uce-Anya for immediate arraignment of the suspect.
“We are so unhappy about this ugly development. Few days ago, we saw the viral video that the girl had given out online concerning the issue she had with the cleric and it is overwhelming that today, what we find out to be a place of solace and religious ground, is now being used as a place of assault.
“And we cannot imagine it that such a thing will happen , coming from a cleric, people hiding under clerical order to perpetrate evil. And we are saying no to such things – whether it is by prophecy they are using it which is fake or whichever means they are perpetrating it, we are saying no to it and FIDA in Ebonyi. We are not keeping quiet.
“We are going to follow this matter to ensure it is properly investigated and the culprit charged to court. This is not a matter you go out to settle, there shouldn’t be any form of settlement pertaining to this matter. Nobody should talk about settlement in this matter; the man should be properly investigated and prosecuted.
“How can you hide under healing or religion to assault someone who is even weak and vulnerable at that moment that sex will heal her? Is healing done on the bed? And this is not the first time of hearing this type of thing and after a while, after interacting with those people, threats and intimidation come from somewhere and the next thing we hear is that you will not have access to those victims because some people have chosen to hide them.
“There should be no form of settlement and we will put our eyes down to make sure the matter is investigated and the man brought to book. We are worried but at the same time, we got information that the matter was transferred to another department at the police force.
“We are demanding that the man should be arraigned and we are going to make our case officially to the Commissioner of Police that the man should be arraigned. He should go to the court and prove himself. We are not going to back down”, she stated.
A member of the federation, Mike Ijeoma-Ajanwachukwu said the federation must do everything possible to interface with the victim and get justice for her.
“We got the information that the man is now before SWAT department of the police force. We are still following up but our take is to see this girl because from the interview she granted online, it’s like the girl is being threatened and we can’t stay back and watch. We must see this girl and we need to interface with this girl to encourage her to tell her that she is not alone in the battle.
“So, we are there. She got our back and that’s why we are trying to ensure that the cleric is prosecuted. We will go to the police headquarters and if we are not able to get the information we need from department of the police where we were told the man is being detained, we will meet the Commissioner of Police. Ours is to ensure that the girl gets justice. The man must be charged to court, we can’t keep quiet, FIDA is on this matter,” she said.
The Press Secretary to wife of the state fovernor, Nnenna Oshibe said the Ebonyi State, Mrs. Mary-Maudline Nwifuru has ordered her legal team to move into the matter to ensure justice for the victim.
“Yes, Her Excellency has directed her legal team to handle the matter. You can reach Professor Nkechi Echiegu the Team Lead of her foundation, BERWO for more detail”, she told the reporter.
Meanwhile, the Better Life for Rural Women and Internally Displaced Persons Foundation founded by the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Mary-Maudline Nwifuru , has revealed that both the cleric and the girl were undergoing counselling.
The Team Lead of the foundation, Professor Nkechi Echiegu, who disclosed this to Saturday Sun, said the matter was not just about punishing anybody but about getting things done right, by counselling the two families.
Echiegu said: “We do not start discussing certain cases until we have shape because a girl that is young is involved. We don’t mind the old man. So, it is not for us to tell the whole stories so that it will be very interesting, no! we are doing a lot of in-depth investigation. Counselling is going on.
“It is not about punishing anybody but about getting things done right. So, we have started doing some things but as it is now, the only thing I can say is that we are on the matter but I can’t tell you the things that we are doing now. But one major thing is counselling, talking to both people, talking to the families involved because somebody saying that I am sleeping with you so that your blood group-AS can change to AA and AS, that means the level of ignorance is alarming and in most cases, this is not what we will reveal to the world because no matter what you put out there, the whole world is reading it and they are using it to access Ebonyi State.
“The poor girl wants school fees and that was why she was assaulted; this is not what we will push to the world. The major thing that I am doing now is to tell the two parties, never try that again. We are not working alone in this matter; we are working as a team. There are other partners that are interested in the matter like Ministry of Women Affairs, Police, FIDA and other partners.
“A lot of people are working on it. We are not interested in breaking news yet. I will not tell you where the girl is for security purposes. You people have finished watching the sex tape and her nudity. Why are you people interested in knowing her whereabouts?”
An angry mob has destroyed the cleric’s billboard mounted at the front of his Champions of the Truth Life Cathedral, Mile 50, Abakaliki.
The cleric hails from Onicha Igboeze, Onicha Local Government Area of the state while the victim is a native of Amudo, Ezza South Local Government also in the state.
A sickle -cell advocate, Aisha Edwards Maduagwu, has called for prosecution of the cleric.
Maduagwu, who alleged that she was also harassed by the cleric who is the bishop of a new generation church in Ebonyi State, Champions of the truth cathedral, called for immediate prosecution of the man.
In a petition to the state Commissioner of Police, Adaku Uche-Anya, the Director of Sickle Cell Orphanage and Underprivileged Home, called for justice for Ede.
She implored the Commissioner and the investigative team to prioritize the case by ensuring that the bishop’s detention leads to comprehensive justice for all victims, noting that silence or inaction risks perpetuating the cycle of abuse.
“As a long standing sickle cell advocate dedicated to supporting victims of exploitation and advocating for systemic change on how sickle cell persons are treated, I make this undersigned release in solidarity with a sickle cell victim (Names withheld) who was sexually exploited by one Bishop Sam. Ndubueze Onyeagoziri Okorie, the General Overseer of Champion the Truth Cathedral.
The post Unholy sex allegations: Big trouble for Ebonyi bishop appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
