A cleric, Pastor Peter Taiwo of Christ Apostolic Bible Church, Alaja Oke, Saje, Abeokuta, who is currently in police custody for allegedly defiling a teenage chorister in the church, has claimed that he and the girl were in love.
Taiwo’s wife Elizabeth who is also with the police is accused of aiding her husband in the act.
The preacher told BBC Pidgin in a report published on Thursday that he and the girl “fell in love with each other,” adding that he told her to leave her boyfriend and ask him for whatever she needed.
He also alleged that when the girl got hurt on the leg he assisted her parents to seek medical attention for her.
According to him, his kind gesture drew him closer to her and she began entering his bedroom to talk with him.
“She used to enter my bedroom and we would talk and chat together. One day, when she came in the morning for the treatment of the leg, I called her inside to see how the treatment was going, I don’t know the spirit that entered me when I was trying to check the leg.
“From that day, she began to send me I love you message and I would reply her. I still have the message on my phone,” he said.
Taiwo said he told his wife he had sex with the girl and asked her to help him beg the girl for forgiveness.
His wife, who is the church’s choir mistress, said she was not aware her husband was taking advantage of the girl.
She said they have been married for about 15 years with three children, adding that her husband was a bricklayer until he began pastoral work five years ago.
“Three weeks ago on Wednesday, my husband asked me to help call her so he could send her on an errand. But when I noticed she had been with him for too long I went inside but to my surprise, I saw blood stain on our bed and the girl crying. That was when I realised my husband had defiled her. I shouted and cried and wanted to raise alarm but my husband begged me not to expose the girl,” she said.