Taiwo Ajayi, the ex-wife of House On The Rock pastor Joseph Okpongete, has cried out for help over her husband’s alleged threats and plans to harm her for leaving him after 12 years of their marriage over alleged domestic violence.
Taiwo in a statement in four parts narrated her ordeal with the cleric whom she said she left four years ago.
She alleged that during the 12 years of their marriage, she suffered greatly as the spouse of the cleric as she was subjected to domestic violence “in its most horrific forms,” adding that “I faced physical, emotional, psychological, and financial abuse.”
“I have been separated from my ex-husband for the past 4 years. I was married for 12 horrible years to Joseph Okpongete,” she added.
Appealing to the Christian body in Nigeria to please caution the cleric, Taiwo said she didn’t want to become another statistic of a Christian woman who died from domestic violence.
According to her, the case was reported to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) in 2022 where her husband was invited to and “he confessed twice to having beaten me, and this was recorded. It was also reported to the Nigeria Police Force.
“I was brutally raped on our honeymoon in Cairo, Egypt, as a virgin. I was beaten up when I was 5 months pregnant with our daughter. I was called fat, useless and ugly by this man I had married, even though he married me as a beautiful size 12. I was beaten up severally, beaten while holding a new baby boy, having my head bashed into the wall which landed me in the hospital.
“I have faced several hospital visits and admissions due to the abuse. I suffered terrible silent treatments, was humiliated severally publicly and privately, was cheated on by the husband with other women, and I would discover he was sleeping with the housemaids, who I would have to chase away from the house.
“My successful career as an award winning Recruiter has been threatened and almost destroyed, even when I had worked within the Oil E & P industry in Nigeria and worked with multinationals within Corporate Canada in the finance industry.
“Because of the stress he was giving me, I lost my job with a multinational last year which was fetching me the equivalent of N55 million. I was being paid in Canadian Dollars, and it was 100 percent remote. My hard earned resources and all that I have worked for, for the past 16 years, were stripped away from me.
“Due to the abuse I was suffering at the hands of Joseph Okpongete, I relocated to Canada with my children in 2016 to distance myself from this man, and to give my children and I peace. He would come to Canada and ask the landlord to evict us from the property that I rented with my own money, and we would be suddenly rendered homeless and have no choice than to return to his house in Nigeria.
“Due to the stress I was receiving on the home front, I would have burnouts on my jobs in Canada and have to resign, leaving me with little or no income. When the abuse became too much, I had to call the Canadian Police in Mississauga, ON who came to warn him at the house that if he continued this way, he would be arrested. This made him step back a bit.
“I returned to Lagos 2 months ago because I prefer being at home in Lagos. The climate works better for me. I have received threats from him about what he will do to me. He has also refused to pay child support, take care of the kids nor pay their school fees.
“I have been running from this man for the past 4 years and my country people, I am tired, hence why I am crying out today for someone to please help me ask this man to leave me alone. He has insisted in a forceful manner that I return to his house.”
Taiwo said that two weeks ago, her ex-husband’s aunt called and ‘commanded’ her to return to the husband’s house, but she politely refused.
She said that two days ago, “he called to speak to the children and I do not keep him from speaking to them nor from contacting them. He said all manner of things and gave all manner of threats, he has also been playing delayed tactics with the divorce process in court.
“He called two days ago to tell our 14-year-old daughter that he is planning something against me, issuing threats, I do not know what he is planning, and sincerely I am not ready to find out. Last year he asked the police in Lagos to arrest me and lock me up for leaving him, only God delivered me.
“I had to run for my life back to Canada. Please fellow Nigerians, help me to ask Joseph Okpongete to please leave me alone. It is not by force to be married to him. It not by force for me to return to his house. I have moved on, please help me beg him to move on.”
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