Coordinator of MINE Teenage Ministry and pastor at The Ark Church Timi Adigun has been accused of sexual harassment.
A public relations expert Akan Imoh in a viral Facebook post said he lives close to the church in Lagos and that he confirmed the allegations after investigating alongside two other journalists.
“The very annoying thing is that this man doesn’t seem like he cares. He just wants to move on. The last I heard is that he has started another church/ministry. Something called ‘Haven of Love’. Actually, MINE Teens Ministry was closed without any proper explanation. The church was also closed too,” he wrote.
“You just throw teenagers into confusion. There’s too much anger on the streets. These guys have been hitting up my DM, and I wasn’t even a leader or a member of the ministry. They are confused and angry. Can you imagine, you’ve been telling these kids not to have sex till they get married, but then, you’ve been doing stuff with them in secret.”
Adigun, 35, is also the editor of MINE Magazine – a free Christian teenage magazine that preaches sexual purity.
On Twitter, a life coach named Orifunke led in the allegations on Thursday. She said Adigun has refused to address the allegations.
“The interesting thing is the members are only asking him to come out and address it. They want him to admit it, justice to be followed after and healing gotten for victims. That’s what they are asking.
“But he has refused to say NADA. He is even running giveaways on IG,” she wrote.
Orifunke also accused Adigun’s wife Titi of complicity.
The teenage ministry confirmed the allegations against its coordinator in a Twitter thread on Thursday.
“He’s a sexual predator. Before he was found out, he’d just started the “Father me” series where he encouraged people to submit to fatherhood, even while molesting those who have lived with him for 5+ years,” the organisation wrote but later deleted the tweet.
In subsequent tweets, which were not deleted, the group said Adigun’s defence, when quizzed, was that the girls also enjoyed the acts, and no one loves the girls as much as he does.
The ministry later released a statement dissociating itself from Adigun’s actions.
“Based on the issue of sexual harrasment against Timi Adigun, the Coordinator of MINE Teenage Ministry, we hereby dissociate the message of the ministry from his actions.
“As a ministry, we stepped in to ask him to do the right thing, but our efforts were rebuffed,” the statement read.
Rather than respond to the allegations, Premium Times reported that it confirmed a message his wife sent on the church’s WhatsApp platform via her number, suspending the teenage ministry’s activities indefinitely.
“A lot is happening in this ministry presently as you might have gathered. Pastor Timi and I apologise for everything said and done wrong. Please forgive us. In line with this, The MINE Nation’s Activities are put on hold indefinitely, for now. Worship Fiesta 2020 is cancelled. The MEET 2020 is cancelled. The Ark Church would have her last service on Sunday,” she wrote.
The online news platform said the telephone numbers of Adigun and wife have been unreachable for comments.
It also said it gathered from Adigun’s close associate that the cleric changed his mobile number when the allegations became public knowledge.
