The founder of Mountain of Liberty and Miracle Ministry, Chris Okafor, has withdrawn the public apology he earlier issued to Doris Ogala over her claims that they were in a secret relationship for seven years.
Speaking during a church service, Okafor said the apology was made due to pressure from some people around him whom he described as friends.
According to the cleric, he initially resisted apologising because he believed doing so would be seen as an admission that the allegations against him were true.
“You lose a fight to win a war. I was under immense pressure from certain people around me, saying I should do different things. I said that what I am being asked to do is like accepting what I did not do,” he said.
Okafor explained that his apology was not directed at Ogala but was meant to prevent respected church leaders from being dragged into the controversy.
“Firstly, the reason why I apologised was that the fathers of faith were being dragged, and I did not want them to be dragged, Pastor Matthew and Bishop Abioye,” he said.
“There is no single apology to that person. There is no apology for what I did not do or for someone I have not met face to face. I knelt down because of those fathers, not because of any Jezebel anywhere.”
The pastor added that he is now leaving the matter in the hands of the legal system.
“We have chosen the right course, and the right course will prevail,” he said.
The controversy began last year after a video of Okafor’s engagement to Pearl Okafor surfaced online.
Following the development, Ogala alleged that she had been in a romantic relationship with the pastor since 2017.
She claimed she ended her previous marriage at his urging and accused him of betraying her after years of intimacy and promises of marriage.
The actress later issued an ultimatum, demanding that the pastor either marry her or pay N1 billion in damages for an alleged breach of promise.
Despite the claims, Okafor went ahead with his marriage to Pearl in both traditional and white wedding ceremonies.
Earlier in the dispute, the cleric publicly knelt and apologised, appearing to acknowledge parts of Ogala’s allegations about their past relationship before now retracting the apology.
