Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent Ganmo, Ifelodun, Kwara State, Nigeria · 2026

Nigeria: general overseer sentenced to life for raping three minor congregants

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

general overseer of a ministry

Organization

Divine Land of Joy and Prayer Ministry

Spiritual nexus

The complainants were minor members of the defendant's own congregation, and the court established that the offences occurred inside the church's Mission House — his authority as general overseer supplying both the access and the concealment.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Prophecy or divine command

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2026-05-14 · conviction and sentence

Kwara State High Court, Ilorin, Nigeria. Prophet Ajiboye Abayomi Olayinka, general overseer of Divine Land of Joy and Prayer Ministry, was sentenced to life imprisonment for unlawful sexual intercourse with three minors in his congregation, and to a further 14 years for procuring illegal abortions for the victims. The court found the offences occurred inside the church's Mission House at Ganmo. The prosecution did not establish a further count of bigamy.

Documented coercion mechanisms

authority as general overseer over minor congregants
abuse inside the church Mission House
forced abortions to conceal the offences

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Pastor bags life jail for sexually assaulting minors in Kwara', Punch (Nigeria), May 2026.: Nigerian paper of record reporting the life sentence, the additional 14-year term, and the court's findings on where the offences occurred.

Related record

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