By Ayomide Otitoju
The Founder of the Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministry, Pastor Chris Okafor, has threatened legal action over claims that he fathered a woman identified as Chidera Okafor.
The allegation emerged during a now-viral conversation between Chidera and social media commentator Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), in which she claimed the Lagos-based cleric is her biological father and accused him of abandonment and mistreatment.
At a press briefing, Pastor Okafor’s legal representatives strongly denied the claims, describing them as “damaging, misleading and unacceptable.” The lawyers said the allegations were false, malicious and injurious to the cleric’s reputation.
“We wish to make it categorically assertive and unequivocally clear that the claims alleged by the so-called Ms. Chi Okafor are untrue, misleading, malicious and defamatory,” the lawyers said.
They demanded an immediate retraction of the statements and a public apology to be published in two national newspapers, alongside the removal of all online content linking Pastor Okafor to the alleged paternity or abandonment. The legal team also challenged Chidera and her sibling to submit themselves for a DNA test at a health facility of their choice, in the absence of any valid DNA evidence.
The lawyers warned that failure to comply with these demands would leave their client with no option but to pursue legal remedies to protect his reputation.
During her conversation with VDM, Chidera alleged that she lived with Pastor Okafor until around 2020 and was subjected to unfair treatment while in his household. She claimed she was the only child from her mother among other children and alleged visible discrimination during her stay.
VDM, in a caption accompanying the audio, described the claims as disturbing and accused the cleric of mistreating his alleged children.
Responding, Pastor Okafor’s lawyers criticised VDM for publishing the content without seeking their client’s response, accusing him of pursuing “cheap popularity” and sensationalism.
The legal team further narrated that Pastor Okafor was once married to Chidera’s mother but said the marriage was dissolved following alleged infidelity. According to them, a DNA test conducted at the time conclusively established that the children were not biologically his, after which the woman left with the children.
They added that despite the DNA findings, Pastor Okafor continued to support the children’s education and welfare out of goodwill, including assisting them through their careers in Canada and the United Kingdom, stressing that such support should not be misconstrued as an admission of paternity.
The lawyers reiterated that portraying Chidera and her sibling as Pastor Okafor’s children, as well as allegations of abandonment, amounts to misrepresentation and libel.
Meanwhile, the cleric has also faced separate allegations from Nollywood actress Doris Ogala, who claimed she was in a relationship with him from 2017 and accused him of betrayal following his recent marriage to his new wife, Pearl.
Ogala alleged that she left her former marriage at the cleric’s insistence and said his decision to marry someone else caused her emotional distress. She subsequently served Pastor Okafor with a pre-action notice, demanding ₦1 billion in damages for an alleged breach of a promise to marry.
In response, the cleric’s lawyers dismissed the claims as “laughable,” noting that the matter is under investigation by law enforcement agencies and should be allowed to run its course.
