Former Church Members Allege Child Sexual Abuse Against Living Christ Mission Founder Obiajunwa Onukogu
Two women have claimed they were sexually abused as children when they were attending programmes run by the Living Christ Mission in the 1990s as part of a church youth group for young girls.
Kelechi Ibe, 39, and Onyekachi J. Eze, 40, filed their allegations in separate written statements, which said they chose to come forward after years of silence.
Their claims were that the alleged incidents took place during church programmes in Port Harcourt, Onitsha and Nkwerre, Imo State, in the company of a group called “Princess of Daddy Hezekiah”.
The women said that sometimes children were left with church officials when their parents left conventions. They were then called to private rooms to see if they were virgins, they said.
Both women said they were touched inappropriately as children and were told not to talk to their parents or others about it.
The alleged abuse started when she was approximately 12 or 13 years old and continued regularly at church conventions, Ibe said. Eze also claimed that the abuse started when she visited the church in Onitsha and extended to her arrival in Port Harcourt where she joined the group.
The affected people reported that they subsequently shared their experiences and found other former members who had also reported similar experiences.
They spoke of the emotional impact they felt that would last a lifetime and hoped that by speaking out they would help others to get support and report abuse.
At the time of this writing, Obiajunwa Onukogu (Daddy Hezekiah) and the Living Christ Mission have not publicly commented on the allegations.
The accounts highlight the need to protect children in faith-based programmes and to have allegations of child sexual abuse investigated independently for child protection.
