• He’s  a  blackmailer –Church

From GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri
The Seventh Day Adventist Church in Imo State has been thrown into crisis as a member of the church, Mr. Charles Alozie sensationally alleged that the President of the Anambra and Imo Conference of the church, Pastor Ephraim Uzodinma Okpulor snatched his wife, Mrs. Chinwe Alozie. Charles Alozie said the incident has put asunder the marriage contracted with Chinwe 12 years ago.

Sunday Sun was reliably informed that Mrs Chinwe  Alozie who works at the church’s headquarters in Owerri as an accounts officer had allegedly started the illicit relationship with the President of the Conference who is a family friend of the Alozies in 2011 unknown to the husband, until the bubble burst in September 2012, when Mr Alozie accidentally discovered some amorous conversations saved on the wife’s BlackBerry cellphone.

The distraught Alozie said the affair between his wife and the pastor has not only ruined his life but had also left him without his children as his estranged wife had absconded with his three children since July 12, 2013.  This was after instigating the police to arrest him on trumped up charges.

He also accused the President of the Eastern Nigeria Union Mission, Pastor B.E.O Udoh of allegedly shielding Pastor Okpulor from being investigated for alleged adultery with his wife even when the matter had been officially communicated to him over a year ago.

Alozie who is a tricycle (Keke) operator in Owerri, and a native of Mgboko in Obingwa  Council Area of Abia State, told Sunday Sun that he married  Chinwe  who hails from Umunama community in Ezinihitte Mbaise  Council Area of Imo State on December  22, 2002. Incidentally, the president of the Imo and Anambra Conference of the church who is currently in the eye of the storm is also from Ezinihitte Mbaise, but from Akpodim community.

The embittered  man said he was elated when his wife was employed in the church because he had thought that she would be safe in the house of God but regretted that now he felt betrayed by the man who is not only the chief shepherd of the churches in Imo and Anambra states but also a family friend who eats and drinks with him in his house. He was angry that the pastor had allegedly been having an affair with his wife behind his back until God decided to expose them. He claimed that since his discovery of the alleged amorous relationship, his life had been in danger.

“Since I discovered this unholy relationship between my wife and Pastor Okpulor, my life has been under constant threat by the two to the extent that my wife had gone to the landlord and threatened him, warning  that if he does not throw me out of the house, that he would be dealt with. I came  back from my daily work one evening and the landlord called me and gave me two weeks quit notice because he does not want any problem with anybody on account of my living in his house. I had to plead with him to give me  at least a month for me to find another accommodation. It was some members of the church who raised the money for me to pay. Later the tricycle I was using for transport business suddenly disappeared from where it was parked. I know this is also the handiwork of my ex- wife and her accomplices because they have vowed to make life unbearable for me as long as I continue with the matter.

“The only thing I need now is to get my three children  back but my wife has vowed that I can never get them back, claiming that the children no longer belong to me. This is the reason I had to engage the services of a lawyer to get my children back since my wife has already made up her mind to become the unofficial second wife of the pastor. My attorney has written to Pastor Udoh, reminding him of the letter I had earlier written to him on January 17, 2013 to investigate the matter, but the head of the church in the entire Eastern region has chosen not to do his duty by sanctioning Pastor Okpulor.”

Almost in tears, Alozie said that the bubble on the relationship burst on September 26, 2012 when he came home after the day’s work and the wife refused to serve him his usual dinner but rather directed their housemaid to do so, because she was busy chatting with the pastor on the cellphone as usual. But what irked him, he said, was when his wife who was sitting in the parlour, while he was in the bedroom eating,  ordered their maid  to close the adjoining door so that he would not hear the conversation going on between her and the pastor. He said he had to reopen the door but the wife again shut it and at that point he inquired from her what sort of discussion was going on with the pastor that she would not want him to hear about. He said his wife insisted that the door must be closed, saying that it was a private matter.

Alozie said that it was at that point that he ordered the wife to hand over to him the  BlackBerry cellphone, which, he alleged, was given to her by the pastor. Instead of handing over the phone, Alozie said the following day, the wife went to block the line at the MTN office, apparently to stop him from  gaining access to the number.

“I came back from work on the evening of  September 26, 2012 but instead of my wife to serve me dinner, she instructed our maid to serve me the food while she continued with her conversation with the pastor because that is what she usually does every night and I  was not disturbed because Pastor Okpulor is not only the head of our church in both Imo and Anambra states but also our family friend  and I went to the bedroom to eat while she was sitting in the parlour, talking with the pastor. But later, she ordered our maid to close the door connecting the parlour with the bedroom and when our maid closed the door, I ordered her to leave it open but my wife stood up from where she was sitting to close the door for the second time and I asked  her what sort of conversation was going on between her and the pastor that would warrant her to close the door when I was eating in the bedroom and she replied that it was a private matter and at that point, I seized the cellphone from her.

“The following day when I refused to hand her back the phone,  she went to block the line in MTN office unknown to me, because when I tried her line, it simply said that the number no longer exists. But few days later when she travelled, I decided to extract the memory card from her phone and put it in my own phone to listen to some of the church hymns which she usually plays on her phone because I equally like the songs. But to my greatest surprise, what I heard was recorded voices of her conversations with different people including my own and I was wondering how my wife would record my conversations with her.

But when I scrolled further down, I was alarmed when I heard the amorous conversations between my wife and the pastor which is terrible for any man of God to engage in with a married woman. And to be sure of what I was hearing, I had to cross-check the number and made sure that it actually belonged to Pastor Okpulor and I wept bitterly. Because it was a total betrayal for a man who I consider as a family friend to be having an affair with my wife behind my back. It is even more painful for me because whenever I have any problem with my wife, it was this same pastor that settles the problem between us.”

Alozie  revealed to Sunday Sun that he had restrained himself from confronting the wife when she returned from her travel, but that he was shocked again on the 21st of  December when she refused to join the rest of the family for their usual morning devotion and that after their prayers, he had gone to their bedroom to find out why the wife had decided not to join the rest of the family for prayers only to find her drinking beer as early as 6 am. According to him, when he inquired to know what prompted her action, she had replied that she was not in the best of moods and that the husband should not bother about her.

“When I went to the bedroom to find out know why she had refused to join us for our usual morning devotion, I was shocked that my wife had already finished a bottle of beer and with another bottle beside her and I asked why she was drinking beer which is forbidden by the church, she simply told me that she was not in a good mood and that I should not bother about her. And I left in anger and took my kids to school and because I was very disturbed by all the discoveries, I could no longer work that day and decided to come to the house to ask what was going on between her and Pastor Okpulor.

But before I got home,  Pastor  Okpulor was already in my house, I greeted him and asked him if my wife had told her pastor and boss that she now drinks alcohol and obviously,  Pastor Okpulor must have  known that I had discovered his unholy relationship  with my wife, he retorted that he did not know that my house was on fire and quickly left. When I confronted my wife about her adulterous relationship with the pastor, she had begged me to forgive her and not to expose them and I agreed on the condition that she must tell Pastor Okpulor to come with his wife so that the matter would  be settled since it is a family affair.

“I reported the case to her family members and told them how my wife has turned our matrimonial home into a chalet, sleeping with the pastor who she is working with in the same office, and when her family members tried to intervene in the matter, she simply told them off, saying that she was no longer interested  in the marriage.  By early February 2013,  she had packed all her belongings and abandoned  the children and left the house before I returned from work.”

Left with no other choice, Alozie said that he had to report the case to the secretary of the conference of the church,  Pastor Akubude who is the second-in-command in the hierarchy. But  when Pastor Akubude notified Pastor Okpulor of the allegation, rather than Pastor Okpulor to call him, he instead called his estrange wife, who threatened to deal with him for having the temerity to report them to the church.

He pointed out that  “after Pastor Okpulor failed to attend meetings scheduled by the secretary of the Conference, Pastor Akubude and my church pastor to absolve himself of the allegations, I had to officially write to the overall head of the church in the Eastern region, Pastor B. E. O. Udoh on what the president in charge of Imo and Anambra conference of the church has been doing with my wife, which has led to the break up of  my marriage.  I had also copied the letter to my family members and to my in- laws to let them know about the situation.

But to my greatest surprise, the regional head, after acknowledging the receipt of my letter, till this moment had failed to either call me to substantiate my allegation or as required by law of the church, to investigate the allegation of adultery against Pastor Okpulor, which is a serious matter.”

Meanwhile, one of the elders of the church who does not want his name mentioned told Sunday Sun that the issue had caused disquiet in the church because of the refusal of the regional head of the church to ask Pastor Okpulor to step aside for investigation to be carried out as required by the law of the church on such a grievous allegation.  He noted that previously when a similar case happened, the pastor in charge was asked to step aside for investigation to be carried out.

“Members of the church are very disappointed in the way and manner the allegation of adultery, which is a very serious offence is being handled by the regional head of the church whom we heard is being blackmailed by the same Mrs Chinwe Alozie. When a similar case was brought against a pastor, this same Okpulor  insisted that the pastor must step aside for an investigation and after which he lost his pastor’s licence.  The unwillingness on the part of the regional head to sanction Pastor Okpulor who is his subordinate could only mean that he approved the actions of the pastor.”

He further revealed that because of the ugly situation, some members of the church who were to wed in the church last year refused to allow Pastor Okpulor to perform the solemnization of their marriage but rather requested other pastors from Abia and Anambra states to perform the ceremony.

He also disclosed that the regional head of the church, Pastor Udoh has also ignored the letter written to him by the attorney of Deacon Alozie demanding for action on the matter.

Another member  of the church who simply identified himself as Nnamdi told Sunday Sun that the leaders of the church were treating the matter with levity because Alozie is a poor man. Nnamdi  who said  he was disgusted with the church leaders whom he described as Pharisees disclosed that he had already decided to stop attending the church as long as Pastor Ukpulor remained the head of the Conference of Imo and Anambra states.

When contacted, Pastor Okpulor said that he could not comment on the matter because Deacon Alozie had not only reported the matter to the highest authority of the church in the region, but had also engaged the services of a lawyer. He said he needed the clearance of his superiors to make further comments on the issue.

However, the legal adviser of the church, Elder K. Anyanwu stated that Alozie is not a member of the church and that he is simply blackmailing the pastor because he could not handle his marital problems.  Anyanwu told Sunday Sun that he had asked Mr Alozie to see him over his marital problems but that he had been dodging him and had not attended any of the meetings scheduled to settle the quarrels between him and his wife who had complained to the church that her husband had thrown her  out of their matrimonial home.

“Charles Alozie is not a member of the church but has simply been blackmailing Pastor Okpulor over his inability to handle his marital problems and when his wife who works in the church reported that her husband has sent her packing from their matrimonial home, I invited him for a meeting in order to resolve the problem between him and his wife but he has been dodging me ever since and has not attended any of the meetings and as the legal adviser of the church, when a case is reported, I am instructed to handle it, but in this particular case, Alozie is not speaking the truth,” Anyanwu said.


Source: Sun