General Overseer of Calvary Bible Church, Pastor Olumide Emmanuel, has revealed that his first wife had been married twice before he met her.
He said the woman, whose identity he did not reveal during an interview aired on Okonkwo’s YouTube channel, repeatedly abused him during their nine years of marriage.
The famous clergyman further stated that the wife, whose identity he did not disclose, told him about her unsuccessful marriages and claimed that the second ended allegedly because of her ex-husband’s broken promises and infidelity.
Emmanuel said; “There are some things I won’t say to protect them. I became a pastor at the age of 21. I got married in 1997. This information is coming to the public domain for the first time. A lot of people didn’t know, so I just kept quiet. I lost friends. And people didn’t know, God said I should keep quiet because he would fight for me and vindicate me. I was a victim.
“I met this beautiful daughter of Zion, and when I met with her, we started as business partners and friends. As a business partner, I didn’t know much about her personal life. When we came into contact with each other, it was time to get married, I proposed to her. And then we started a courtship; she explained to me that she was not divorced but that she had been married twice. During this period she told me her story.
“In the first marriage, she said she got married, but there was no sex, so the marriage was not consummated. She said she discovered that the man could not perform sexually. When the man could not perform, he (the husband) accused her saying that something was wrong with her because he had done it a week before. The man was in a relationship with one of her chief bridesmaids and she still got married to him. So when this came out, it led to a lot of other things. This is all according to her story. So when she got out of this, they went into what is called a dissolution marriage. I did my investigation.’
“In her second marriage, they had done the traditional rites. I knew this because she told me she wanted to go abroad for a wedding. And then she came back and I asked why didn’t the marriage take place. They were to get married, and the man she was to marry was a pastor in a major holy denomination here in Nigeria.
“She had a business before she left Nigeria. And the man promised her that she could still be doing her business when she came. But when she got there, he shifted the goalpost and told her that she had to shut down her business in Nigeria.
“And when I showed up, and by my experience and journey with God, we went ahead and got into the relationship. But the very minute the relationship started, I started noticing things. I realised that she was in the prison of her past.
“I realised that insecurity was a major issue. And then I realised her experience had damaged her and that she was not yet healed from it. Because this was my area, I knew what to do. I knew I could help her.
“And we got married at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries. The General Overseer of the MFM was involved in the marriage. She took succour in prayer. I told her that prayer could not solve the issue, even though I believe in prayer. I told her she needed help. At one point, there were some things she did that surprised me. She did something that was like a high level of abuse.”