By SCM REPORTER
A SHAMED Nigerian megachurch bishop caught up in a explosive leaked sex tape scandal has issued a grovelling apology—but claimed desperate, childless women begged him for his “holy intervention.”
Bishop James Ogwo found himself at the centre of a massive online storm after explicit videos of him in compromising positions with female congregants began circulating widely on social media.
Breaking his silence, the disgraced cleric confessed to the acts but offered a bizarre defence, claiming that women struggling to conceive essentially pressured him into sleeping with them.
In a statement that has stunned believers across the West African nation, Bishop Ogwo claimed he initially tried to offer standard pastoral advice before giving in to temptation.
”I am not proud of the videos circulating online because I never wanted my children or family to see them,” the disgraced Bishop admitted.
He claimed: “Most of the women who came to me sought prayers for the fruit of the womb. I urged them to wait on God’s perfect timing.”
But according to Ogwo, the women refused to take no for an answer, citing extreme family pressures at home.
”Many said they were under unbearable pressure from their husbands and in-laws over childlessness, so insisted I put it in since I represent the Lord,” he claimed.
Defrocked by the court of public opinion, the cleric added: “I accept responsibility and I beg for your forgiveness.”
Societal Cruelty
The shocking scandal shines a harsh spotlight on the staggering pressure placed on married women in Nigeria to conceive.
In many traditional Nigerian cultures, childlessness is heavily stigmatised, with the blame almost exclusively placed on the wife.
Women who do not conceive within the first year of marriage are routinely subjected to emotional abuse, ostracisation, and intense bullying from their husbands’ extended families—often referred to as the “in-laws.”
Desperate to save their marriages and escape the crippling social shame, many women turn blindly to powerful religious leaders, prophets, and faith healers for a “miracle.”
Unscrupulous “men of God” have frequently been accused of exploiting this immense desperation, using their spiritual authority to manipulate vulnerable women into sexual acts under the guise of delivering a divine blessing.
For Bishop Ogwo, his excuses have done little to dampen the fury online, as critics accuse him of abusing his holy office to prey on women at their absolute breaking points.