The Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria has asked the embattled University of Lagos lecturer, Boniface Igbeneghu, to step down from all ministerial assignments in the local church.
Mr Igbeneghu was exposed in a video clip by BBC Africa where an undercover journalist, Kiki Mordi, disguised as a 17-year-old admission seeker.
The investigation is part of a broader one that uncovers the sex for grade crises in universities in Nigeria and Ghana.
Mr Igbeneghu is a former sub-dean of the Faculty of Art and head pastor of a local Foursquare Gospel Church.
In a part of the 52-minute documentary to be premiered on Monday evening, released on social media, the lecturer started by inviting the ‘student’ for a second meeting where they held prayer session together till he asked her for a kiss and romance.
Although the university spokesperson, Taiwo Oloyede, told BBC that the institution has zero-tolerance for such sexual harassment, she did not provide any response to the “cold room” allegation when PREMIUM TIMES contacted her on Monday.
The church’s National Secretary, Ikechukwu Ugbaju, in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES earlier on Monday, described Mr Igbeneghu’s conduct as “heinous and unscriptural act”
“The General public is hereby informed that as a holiness and bible-believing church and we do not condone such heinous and unscriptural act among our ministers.
“We totally dissociate ourselves from the purported conduct of Dr Igbeneghu and promise to take appropriate measure as soon as the ongoing investigation is concluded.”
Below is the full statement:
The attention of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria has been drawn to a video clip trending on social media platforms titled “Sex for grades: Undercover in West Africa Universities – BBC News” wherein a lecturer in University of Lagos names Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu also described as a pastor in Foursquare Gospel Church was allegedly involved in sexual misconduct with some female students of the University.
The General public is hereby informed that as a holiness and bible-believing church and we do not condone such heinous and unscriptural act among our ministers. We totally dissociate ourselves from the purported conduct of Dr. Igbeneghu and promise to take appropriate measure as soon as the ongoing investigation is concluded.
Meanwhile, the pastor in question has been asked to step down from all ministerial assignments.
PREMIUM TIMES
