Court jails church founder for life over rape of three minors, illegal abortions

A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has sentenced Prophet Ajiboye Olayinka, General Overseer of the Land of Joy and Prayer Ministry in Agah, Ganmo, Ifelodun Local Government Area, to life imprisonment for raping three minors inside his church’s mission house.

Delivering judgment, Justice H.A. Gegele also handed Olayinka an additional 14-year sentence for conducting illegal abortions to terminate pregnancies resulting from his assaults, and ordered that a pump-action gun recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The judge described the convict as “a paedophile and philanderer whose actions should be deprecated by all and sundry.”

Olayinka had been arraigned on an eight-count charge covering criminal conspiracy, unlawful sexual intercourse with minors, illegal abortion, and possession of firearms, with the offences brought under Sections 97, 235, and 283 of the Penal Code, Section 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, 2004, and Section 31(2) of the Kwara State Child Rights Law, 2006. The court discharged him on a separate charge of bigamy.

The three victims, identified in court as PW3, PW4, and PW5, testified that the self-styled prophet lured them into his mission house, anointed their private parts with oil, and forced himself on them. They also told the court that he made them swear an oath of secrecy on a Bible, threatening to kill them should they ever disclose the abuse.

Justice Gegele ruled that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Olayinka repeatedly raped the minors and performed crude abortions to conceal his crimes. The prosecution team, led by Chief State Counsel Issa Zakari, called 12 witnesses and tendered several exhibits, including the victims’ statements and the recovered firearm.