Embattled Pastor Chris Okafor, the Founder of Grace Nation Global, also known as Liberation City, is in deep pain. Apart from the accusations by some ladies that he abandoned them and married another lady, he bore for years the revelation that two out of his four children from his divorced first wife are not his biological children. Worse still, allegations of sleeping with one of his daughters also surfaced. Today, he said he will certainly prove his innocence in court in all cases and stated that all the allegations started coming up when he had finally decided to marry a new wife after staying without a woman for many years. He spoke with a select team of editors in his church at Ojodu, Lagos. Excerpts
In the beginning
“I am Dr. Chris Okafor. By the grace of God, I am the senior pastor and Founder of Grace Nation Global, also known as Liberation City. The ministry started 22 years ago, and the grace of God brought us this far. I came to Lagos after graduating from Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo state. I was born and raised in Benin city, the then Bendel state. I had my kindergarten, primary and secondary schools there. Then, I went to Ambrose Alli University, where I obtained my first degree. I came to Lagos after that, because of the calling and the gift of God.
“I was born into a Christian family, and there were prophecies that came to my parents before I was born. I happen to be originally the sixth child of my parents, and I have three ladies directly ahead of me. So, I grew in the midst of more of my sisters, three of them directly ahead of me, before I was born. But because there were three ladies, my mom was praying for a male child, because there was some kind of pressure on her, you know the typical African setting and belief on male children.
“A prophecy came to my mother in one of the prayer gatherings they went to, that she was going to have a son and that son would be a prophet, and that he would be mightily used, and that the manifestation would begin from the age of seven. And the prophecy even went as far as telling them the name the Lord gave that child. As soon as that prophecy came to my mother, she became pregnant, and she did not bother going to the hospital to see if this would be a male or female, like the normal things that they go to do. She already believed the word of God from the story they told me, that this is going to be a son. She went to the market and got what they used to believe to be the portrait of Jesus. She would put it in her womb, when she’s sleeping chanting ‘your word says this, prophecy has come that you are going to use this boy, this boy in my womb, I want him to be like you.’
“So, when I was born, I was really very fair. They said I looked like Jesus, just like that portrait. After I was born, they didn’t look for names. They already knew my name. That’s why they called me my Igbo name, Ihechukwu, meaning the light of God, and Christian, meaning Christ-like. Those were the names my parents gave me, added to my surname, Okafor.
Gift of God at a tender age
“I started growing up, where we were all taught to fast and pray. As early as 5am, you hear my father ring the bell, and even if you are three months old, they must carry you, you must join that morning devotion. And after that morning devotion, the next thing is everyone goes to do their morning chores. That was the kind of home I grew up in. I was six years old when the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa of the blessed memory came to have a crusade in a primary school close to our house. As little as I was, I went to that crusade. They were calling those who would give their lives to God. I ran out to give my life to God. That was my first encounter with Jesus. I can’t forget that encounter. I recall when the bishop saw me, he said, “this little boy, ask them to bring you up to the stage”. He laid hands on me and said, “God is going to use you”, like a reconfirmation of what was earlier said. At the age of seven, there was a strong manifestation of the gift from that tender age, that, you know, all that manifestation, prophecies and things that were being revealed, were being confirmed and coming to pass.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN VANGUARD
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