Senior pastor of Champions Royal Assembly, Joshua Iginla, has confessed that he and his wife had extramarital affairs which produced “illegitimate” children.
The Abuja-based cleric made the shocking revelation in a sermon on Sunday, March 3.
Iginla said he forgave his wife when she brought an illegitimate child into their home, but that she refused to extend the same to him when he had his own child with another woman.
Iginla also lamented how some of his colleagues and “sons in ministry” ridiculed him and his marriage.
“I and your mother in the Lord met and we had a wonderful marriage; before we got married, we started by checking our genotypes. She was AA and I was AS. We had our first daughter, a wonderful child, and eventually we discovered she had sickle cell anaemia. I receive healing for people here with sickle cell and God has been doing miracles.
“I saw it as a battle and a challenge for me as your father which is a trial of faith for me; it is not a problem for me. I embraced my daughter and we had a good relationship. I may have been the first man of God to do it in this fashion but that is how I was led to do it. I want you to throw your stones at me, abuse me, insult me and I will take it but I want to stay alive, if not for you, for my destiny.
“We later discovered in the course of time that she (Yemisi) was actually AS and I was AS. No problem. It was not a battle but one thing led to another. What happened was what would make a man divorce his wife scripturally and I had the backing for that. But I had to cover it up to be sure that my marriage moved with your mother and that led to so many things.”
Because of his status as a pastor, Iginla said he could not divorce his wife.
“So, I chewed it as a pill and so this battle has become a big one which some men of God are taking advantage of, and sons who are under me, who are very bad, have fed on this battle,” he continued.
“I have tried for seven years. She brought an unholy child into the marriage which was difficult for me to chew. I don’t want you to judge my wife or anything. I just want you to know.
“We had serious battles here and there; family interventions and everything. We covered it. We would have not got to this point today if my wife had listened to me when we had the battle. I also went to have a child outside wedlock and then it became a battle in the family.”
He, however, asked his listeners to put the blame on him, that he was ready to confess and for all the insults that may follow.
“And that is what I am doing today because the battle is bad; it has pushed me to this point. I want the world to know; I want you to insult me. This battle didn’t start from Papa. I am not sleeping and then children who don’t know my story are insulting me unnecessarily. I felt I wanted to end the struggle. I want it to be in the media; insult me.
“I knelt down; I begged her but she chose to make me the laughing stock before people and I said the day I come on air and say this to the people, it marks the end of our union. I covered her and I didn’t divorce her, but when mine came, she threw me to the world, calling people to send me pictures.”