Oyakhilome's Divorce Mess: Nigerians Express Their Shock And Disgust

Shock and disbelief aptly captured the mood of most Nigerians as they reacted to the crisis rocking the marriage of the founder, Believers' Love World Incorporated, popularly known as Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome over a divorce suit reportedly filed by his wife, Anita Oyakhilome.

The media was yesterday awash with report that Mrs. Oyakhilome had filed a suit at Divorce Section A, Central Family Court, First Avenue House, High Holborn, London, UK on the grounds of "unreasonable behavior" and "adultery."

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Reacting to the development, Mrs. Nkiru Ifekwem, a lecturer at the University of Lagos described the situation as "very messy indeed." According to her, the crisis only shows that men of God are also human beings. "This will only show that we are all humans- Pastors, Reverends, Bishops and so on. All the same, the story is quite disturbing bearing in mind that churches and mosques are the places we look up to in this part of the world as places where mentors for our younger generations shall come from," she said.

Ifekwem further said, "The wife should have had this in mind and spared the country and our society of this embarrassment by walking away quietly. That of course would have been a sacrifice as a Christian. Christianity teaches us that whatever situation we find ourselves is a way of bearing the cross. Both of them should as a matter of urgency reconcile to save their followers and members of this huge embarrassment."

In his own reaction, another Nigerian, Sammy Johnson, said he was not surprised at the news as the pastor in question, according to him, had shown lack of respect for the body of Christ by some of his actions in the past. "I am not surprised at what I read today. The man does not have respect for the body of Christ. He shunned the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN leaders when they wanted to broker peace between himself and Chris Okotie when they were having a face-off. Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Okwonkwo and other PFN leaders were shocked when he ignored their call. He even said he was not under PFN," Johnson noted.

A Facebook user, Cecilia Popoola, described the development as a machination of the devil to dampen the spirit of Christians in the country. "When a man of God of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome status and his wife, Anita failed to find a way of resolving their marital problem amicably, what that means is that the devil is determined to deal a devastating blow on the children of God. This calls for a serious prayer. Christians must unite in prayer on behalf of this family for God to intervene. The marriage must not break," she declared. In his own reaction, Samuel Whesu expressed shock over the crisis rocking the Oyakhilome family and called on Nigerians not to gloat over the development. According to him, "it is quite unfortunate that this is happening to the family. One major lesson we can learn from this scenario is that nobody has all it takes to make a marriage work. The fact that you are a man of God does not make you immune to marital crisis. People must realize this and stop gloating over the issue. No sane person will rejoice over another person's marital crisis," he posited.

Ogboh Sandra, also reacting on Facebook, expressed disbelief that the Oyakhilomes could allow their marital crisis to get out of control. "The report has been on for sometime and one would have expected that the couple would have managed the situation well before getting to this point. It is not only about their family alone, it is about their flock, it is about Christians generally. Ministers of God of their repute are not expected to send such wrong signal about marriage because marriage is an institution ordained by God and as such it must not be brought to disrepute by children of God."

Also reacting, Kayode Olusola, said he was not surprised that weighty allegation like adultery is rocking Pastor Chris Oyakhilome's family. Olusola said he had had course to express doubt over the man of God since his "infamous" position on masturbation. "This is a person who claimed masturbation is not a sin. I think what is happening now is another confirmation of what many of us have said even before now," he said.

Read more comments from Nairalanders below:

 freshness2020: 11:54am On Aug 31

It takes a million step to build a good reputation 
But it takes one silly act to destroy everything ...

When ♈όϋ teach the Word, Practice them right.
Only God can help ♈όϋ in this trying times!

 Tallesty1(m): 12:05pm On Aug 31

To be a Pastor you must be devoted to your wife as it is stated in(Titus 1:6; 1 Tim 3:2). Because your marriage illustrates Christ’s love for His church. His bride (Eph. 5:22 ff.). You must love and respect your wife exclusively with your mind, will and emotions and not just your body. A pastor's family is his first flock.

This is a man that will say "pheww" and half of the congregation will fall flat on their belly or back. Why can't he pray God to restore the love and peace in his family?

 purplesummer(f): 12:07pm On Aug 31

The business partnership has collapsed. The congregation should be split into two. Each of them will have to try sole proprietorship. It's all business

 Philipmems(m): 2:31pm On Aug 31

I am not a member of his denomination but having heard from both parties I will live you to be the judge considering what women and men are capable of doing.. Pastor Chris O. accused his wife of having bad friends who are influencing her wrongly, she no longer respects anyone especially in the church. He even said that at one time he called the wife so they can settle there differences but she refused to take anything short of a Divorce from the pastor.
Anita is accusing Chris of adultery and infidelity.
At the end of the day my take is that Satan master confusionist has crept into their home either through the man or the woman but wait oh even if its adultery as speculated what happened to our women of steel (1 peter 3:1-3), for better for worse, our mothers stuck to our fathers through thick and thin, never to be distracted by side chicks... Frankly speaking the easiest way for confusion to enter a home na through woman... After all according to the book of Timothy it says a woman was deceive first before Adams. 
Read 1 peter 3:1-6 and 1 Corinthians 7:1- 12 especially 10 and 11 and understand that the woman has more role to play in keeping her home together and if it fails shes mainly to be blamed.

 jasmine21(f)

Some comments here are just annoying. See pple blaming d wife saying "Can't she forgive?" "She isn't behaving like a pastor," bla bla bla.. Let me ask you, 

1. Do u know how many times she would have forgiven this man of diff things over d years?
2. B4 being a pastor isn't she a woman that has feelings too? So to make d congregation and d man of God happy, she should be unhappy?
3. Pastor Chris is also a man that has imperfections too b4 being a pastor. Does that mean he is devoid of blame and committing sin? 

Whether we like it or not whatever we read in d news can't be enough to judge them because we aren't in d marriage with Dem so we can only guess. Marriage is a partnership and if it goes sour, blame both parties not 1.

I wish them well, sincerely, whether separate or together. Just be happy, and if you're no more happy together, then go your separate ways. The world wouldn't know what is happening in your home, just the two of you know. And despite whatever people might say or insult one person over the other, we would never know what really happened. Neither is it any of our business. 

To the Christians and members of Christ Embassy, I'm sure you and everyone else have your various internal issues, therefore the fact that someone is a pastor doesn't mean the person doesn't have issues. People at the top would rather build a façade about their personal lives, for the sake of being exemplary...but at the end of it all, we're all human. Except you'd like us to believe that you're worshipping your pastor.

 masonkz(m): 2:53pm On Aug 31
I'd also want to believe that for Anita to have gone as far as filing a divorce and stating Adultery as the reason, then she has a proof to back it up. Again, it's no one's business.

 jasmine21(f)Whether the cause is adultery or disrespect as they claim, 1 fact remains...

Why would a couple live apart in 2 different countries for so many years? Divorce is surely bound to happen.
I heard frm a church member that Past Anita & d kids have been living in d Uk for about 15 yrs. That is already separation if you ask me. Both parties would've been so so used to NOT working things out & jst tolerating each other till poo hits d fan. 
That huge space gives room for all d bad things u can think of to happen in a marriage.