One Apostle Chris Omatsola, who made headlines last week after a viral sex video scandal, has now relocated his church over threats that trailed the release of the clip.
Omatsola told Punch that the new location of his ministry was only known to core members. as a result the two locations of the church in the Lekki and Ajah areas of Lagos on Sunday are closed.
PUNCH Metro had reported that Omatsola, who is the Presiding Pastor of Zionwealth of Life Assembly, and his former lover, Tamaratokoni Okpe, had a clash over a sex video, which was leaked on the Internet.
The two estranged lovers, who allegedly dated for about seven months, reportedly had sexual intercourse during the fling, which was filmed by Omatsola.
Shortly after things fell apart between them, the lurid video emerged on the Internet.
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.
On a visit to the church locations on Admiralty Way, Lekki, and Bendid Plaza, Ado Road, Ajah, on Sunday, one of our correspondents noticed that service did not hold.
Some residents of the areas told one of our correspondents that they did not know anything about the church.
When 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.”
Omatsola, who noted that he had apologised to his members, said they knew the truth about the incident.
He added that the incident had affected him psychologically and had helped him to have a better sense of judgment.
“First of all, I was wrong to have had a sex date with somebody I was supposed to marry. But this should not be an instrument of blackmail. It’s really outrageous. My followers know the truth. They know who they are following,” he added.
Meanwhile, Omatsola has come under heavy attack on Facebook, where he has an account.
Despite the scandal,it was observed that he had continued to post self-authored devotionals on his wall.
On October 21 when the sex video went viral, he asked his followers to pray for him.
“Let he or she that is without a sin among you be the first to cast a stone. Friends, pray for the church of God; pray for Zionwealth Church; pray for #ChrisOmatsola.God bless you. #ApostleChrisOmatsola#IstandwithACO #ZionwealthChurch #SatanWillNotWin #John8v7,” he wrote.
Three days after, he posted a crying emoticon and asked for forgiveness.
He said, “One day, Apostle Chris Omatsola will have his last breath, die and go, but until then, I will keep on pushing cool and steady. Sorry to everyone that is offended, please forgive and forget. God bless you all. Shallom.”
