Church General Overseer Arrested for Alleged S-xual Abuse of Teenage Girl

The Abia State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of Peculiar Ginika, the General Overseer and pastor of Liberation Word Assembly International in Aba, over allegations of s-xually abusing a minor.

The suspect is currently in custody at the Rapid Response Squad of the command headquarters, where he is being questioned by the police. He was arrested last weekend after the victim’s father reported the case to the RRS personnel.

According to a police source who spoke to The Nation, a nurse who allegedly helped the suspect with contraceptive pills and took the victim’s blood sample may also be interrogated by the police.

The victim, who turned 17 in November 2023, revealed that the suspect started abusing her when she was 15. The suspect, who had sent his wife away, took advantage of the victim’s faith and claimed to have cured her asthma, a condition she had suffered from since she was eight.

The victim also said that the suspect made her swear an oath of secrecy, threatening to make her asthma worse if she ever exposed him. The suspect manipulated the victim to the extent that she hated her parents and relatives. He even tried to force her to marry him.

The victim’s family source said, “My sister said that the man forced himself on her and led her to an oath never to reveal what was going on between both of them or she risks her asthma affliction coming back, this time more severe.

“He manipulated my sister such that she hated her parents and even her relations. He even went ahead trying to force my sister to marry him.

“Through his manipulation and fear of losing my sister, he made my sister, who had wanted to study medicine, not to agree writing her Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam as she instead opted for a catering school.”

“How can such a brilliant girl refuse to pursue her education to choose to go to catering school. We knew that something was wrong, but we never suspected the pastor. “Each day that they have s*x, he uses her up to five times and he gives her contraceptives at the end of the rounds of sex. My sister will wear out and will hardly do house chores and we never knew that a man who visits our house was behind all these,” “He even went ahead trying to force my sister to marry him,” the source added.

The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Maureen Chinaka, stated in an interview on Tuesday, January 30, that the suspect is being interrogated by the police.