Actress Doris Ogala has issued a formal legal demand to the founder of the Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministry, Chris Okafor, giving the cleric 21 days to pay ₦1 billion or face legal action over what her lawyers describe as a botched marriage claim following the end of an alleged nine-year relationship.
The demand comes days after Mr Okafor married another woman, despite Ms Ogala’s earlier public claims that the pastor had promised to marry her.
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Acting through her lawyer, Nzeakor Atulomah of Synergy Law Partners, the actress is seeking what she describes as aggravated and general damages for emotional, reputational, and psychological harm allegedly suffered as a result of the relationship’s collapse and its public handling.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Ms Ogala accused the cleric of ruining her life after allegedly ending the relationship without informing her.
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Letter
The letter partly read: “While marriage cannot be forced between our client and yourself, the law requires suitable redress for such a calculated and publicly executed breach. We hereby demand, therefore, that you pay our client the sum of NGN 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira). This amount represents aggravated and general damages for the breach itself, the irreparable harm to her reputation, her psychological and physical health, and the egregious manner in which the breach was executed in public.
“We require you to ensure that, within twenty-one (21) days of the date of receipt of this letter, this full reparation amount is deposited into our client bank account as follows. United Bank for Africa plc, Account No.: 2088702393, Account Name: Doris Uzumma Umezurike.”
She stated that failure by the pastor to comply with the demand would compel her to seek legal redress in court.
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“We trust that you will act to obviate the need for further legal escalation in any event. Please be assured that we will file a claim in the appropriate court if you fail to meet the above demands. Meanwhile, please accept our best professional courtesies, while we look forward to hearing from you.”
Threats
This newspaper earlier reported that Ogala vowed that Mr Okafor would never marry anyone else and threatened to disrupt his wedding.
Ogala revealed that the only condition she set for Mr Okafor to marry Pearl or any other woman was for him to buy her a house.
She said his lawyer was already working on the conditions she’d presented to the clergyman and added that she possessed evidence showing that Mr Okafor had promised to marry her.
The actress also dismissed claims that she acted maliciously or deliberately sought to disrupt another person’s happiness.
Despite the threats, the clergyman went ahead to marry his wife, Pearl, on Tuesday.
Pictures from both the traditional and white wedding ceremonies later surfaced on social media on Wednesday.
The pastor’s marriage to Pearl generated reactions from netizens who both praised and criticised Mr Okafor.
Backstory
This newspaper further reported that Mr Okafor earlier responded to Ogala’s allegations of ending their nine-year relationship during his sermon on Sunday.
He stated that no man would willingly choose to settle down with an arrogant woman.
He also claimed that no man would marry a woman from a family with a bad name or a disreputable reputation.
Mr Okafor was previously married to Bessem Okafor, who accused him in 2014 of physically assaulting her at their Magodo, Lagos home.
Bessem, who left the marital home in 2012, alleged that the assault occurred when she visited to see their four children, who were in their father’s custody at the time.
In a 2019 interview with City People, Mr Okafor stated that he had not remarried since his divorce, explaining that he was unwilling to settle down with a woman who might later pose a threat to him.
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