Nigerian Pastor In Viral Sex Video Relocates Church.

Apostle Chris Omatsola, the Presiding Pastor of Zionwealth of Life Assembly in the Lekki area of Lagos State, who is at the centre of a viral sex video scandal, has relocated his church over threats that trailed the release of the clip.

Trouble started for the embattled cleric after he had clashed with his former lover, Tamaratokoni Okpe, over a sex video, which was leaked on the Internet. was gathered that the two estranged lovers dated for about seven months in 2018, during which they had sexual intercourse, which was filmed.

Okpe had accused Omatsola of releasing the video to force her into marriage with him, while the cleric denied the claim, saying the video was leaked to blackmail him. He alleged that Okpe demanded N200m from him.

However, there is a report that the church locations on Admiralty Way, Lekki, and Bendid Plaza, Ado Road, Ajah, was closed yesterday, as service did not hold.

The Punch reports that when it called Omatsola’s telephone line, a man who picked the call said the pastor had become depressed by media attacks and public criticisms, adding that he was not available for comments.

After much pressure from the news outlet, Omatsola eventually agreed to speak.

He said he had relocated his ministry because he feared for his life and those of his members.

While insisting that he did not leak the video, he added that his only regret was having premarital sex.

He stated, “A lot of waters have gone under the bridge. We are trying to protect ourselves from the public, because they have not really been fair to us. We still have a lot of our people, although this has affected our ministry grossly. Our church is a ministry. It is an assembly of young people.

“We have a location where we meet for now because of what happened; we have been receiving a lot of threats; some people are saying they want to burn our church. We had to change the location to a designated place where we meet and we will not share that with the public, because we don’t want the public; we know our people.”

The video, it was learnt, emerged on the internet, shortly after things fell apart between the duo.

Speaking about the incident, Okpe said the pastor had threatened to leak the video after she quit the relationship.

Her words: “I met Apostle Chris Kevwe Omatsola, the founder and pastor of Zionwealth of Life Assembly (Zola) in Lekki, Lagos, and we started dating in February 2018. It quickly escalated to a sexual relationship and when we had sex the first time, he told me that we should make it right by getting married. We continued our romance and one of the things we did together was recording videos and taking pictures of our intimacy.

“I informed my mum about a guy coming for my hand in marriage and she said she was going to pray about it. Everything was rosy until he became violent and constantly beat me up till I bled. He came begging after each episode and I forgave him.”

Okpe alleged that the cleric’s temperament and constant assault of her also discouraged her.

She continued: “In August, I called off the relationship and I was surprised that he accepted it in good faith initially, given his penchant for violence.

“Sometime in August, he asked that we meet to talk on platonic grounds. During the meeting, he became hostile when he realised that I was no longer interested in him. He also refused to drop me off at home. He beat me up, seized my phone, forced me to unlock it and retrieved contacts from it just to track who I was seeing.

“That was the final straw for me; so I never saw him again till September when he showed up at my place, crying and begging. I refused to fall for his tricks and there was no further communication from both sides till sometime early October when he apologised again.

“On October 13, he contacted me with an anonymous number via WhatsApp with pictures, videos and threat messages, saying if I did not come back to him, he was going to release everything.”

She noted that she was surprised when at 7pm that day, people called her attention to the nude video and pictures circulating on the Internet.

She said she had to report the case to the police and Omatsola was arrested the following day. He said now that my pictures and videos were out there, no man would want to look my way again; that it was best we got married.

“After the arrest, in the presence of his dad, he confessed to releasing the pictures and video. He apologised to me, my family, his family and the public. This was recorded on October 19, 2018, and I am in possession of the video. He even accepted to pay damages,” she said.

Okpe, who noted that she regretted the relationship, said she had faced ridicule from friends and family members.

I was wrong to have been involved in premarital sex with a pastor. I was wrong to have allowed him persuade me to record our intimate moments. I have been fielding questions from my colleagues. I hope that this will pass soon,” she added.

But in his narration, the cleric said his former lover was out to fleece him, adding that he could not have posted the sex video since he had his reputation to protect.

He added that a second video of him confessing to posting the sex video was done under duress.

He said, “I never did anything of that nature and she does not have anything to prove it (assault). How do you, a popular pastor with a church in Lekki Phase One, leak your own sex video with your face on it? How does that work?

“That video (confessional video) was done under duress because I was picked up by the same lady and she demanded N200m (from me) for leaking the video, which I did not leak. She has it on her phone and I have it on my phone. So, she picked me up. My dad and the lawyer agreed that I should do a (confessional) video and it was under duress.

“The police were there, the Investigating Police Officer was there; I am supposed to pay that girl N1m before the end of this month.

“This (sex) video came from an unknown telephone number. I started getting calls on Sunday morning while I was in church and somebody said my sex video was all over the Internet. I called the blog that posted it to take it down.

“The next day, the police came to arrest me for it. I went to the station and I was detained; my lawyer came to take my bail. I was taken to the police headquarters where I was told that part of the conditions for bail was for me to make that (confessional) video. I needed to do it to come out to defend myself. You can’t defend yourself in a cell.”