Brother Sammy, Esther Smith and Prophet Owusu Bempah
Celebrity sex scandals and divorce controversies have always been part of some of the biggest and most trending stories in the media. Public figures who have unfortunately been involved in this kind of controversies are often those in the entertainment and arts business but that isn’t always the case.
There are times when people referred to as servants of God and in the business of doing the Lord’s work have found themselves involved in this kind of messy controversies, being it a sex scandal or scandalous divorce issue.
Respected men of God like Duncan Williams, Bishop Obinim and Gospel artistes including Obaapa Christy have been in the news for such reasons. In this controversial article, we take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the biggest sex scandals and messy divorce issues that have hit some servants of God in Ghana.
Bishop Obinim
The founder and leader of God’s Way Miracle Church is no stranger in Ghana when it comes to controversies. Over the years, he has made headlines for all the controversial reasons and continues to do so even up to today. The latest episode of his long list of controversies that got people talking is him trying to fly to heaven during a sermon.
However, none of his controversies comes close to his 2011 sex scandal involving one Gifty Pokuaa, who was said to be the wife of one of his junior pastors. It was perhaps the biggest story in 2011, when the news first broke that Bishop Daniel Obinim was having a secret sexual relationship with the wife of his junior pastor.
The news brought the names of pastors into disrepute and started the debate on the lifestyle of pastors. The scandal got so messy that the wife of Obinim, Florence Obinim had to jump to the defense of her husband, hopping from one radio station to another in a bid to salvage the reputation of his partner.
In one of her interviews, according to a ModernGhana report, she went as far as accusing the lady of being the one begging his husband for sex and even threatening to blackmail him when he was no longer interested in the affairs.
Duncan Williams
Make no mistake, Archbishop Duncan Williams is one of the most respected men of God in Ghana. He has always been in the news for the right reasons, but even the most saint of persons would one day fine themselves on the wrong side of the media.
Way back in 2006, the Archbishop of Action Chapel International, found himself entangled in a divorce case to his wife of 26 years of marriage. The move attracted so much criticism from all angles, largely not because he was divorcing his wife, but because of the manner in which he carried out the whole thing.
In a letter addressed to his congregation, Archbishop Duncan Williams said “The challenges in my marriage are personal and shall remain private for the sake of our children and loved ones. The decision on my part was not taken in haste and without years of prayer, best efforts and christen counseling”.
Many were of the view that this letter to his congregation was not necessary as it looked as if he was trying to pin the blame on his ex-wife for their divorce. The whole divorce issue span out of control when two of his daughters came out to say that their mother was to blame for the whole divorce saga, arguing that a divorce was the best thing for their father.
Obaapa Christy and Pastor Love
Undoubtedly one of the finest gospel artiste ever produced by Ghana, Obaapa Christy, formally known as Christiana Love could move any crowd with her energetic stage performances coupled with her gracious and timeless songs.
For years, she and her husband, Pastor Love seemed the perfect couple until they were involved in one of the most publicized divorced cases ever in Ghana. Just like the previous servants of God, Obaapa Christy and her husband have had their own share of sex scandals and a divorce case which got the nation talking. In 2011, Christiana Love and then husband Pastor Hammond got involved in public and media banter after their marriage went sour.
What was even more scandalous about it was that the couple were still not divorced when they were throwing shots at each other in the media. Pastor Love later accused his wife of infidelity, claiming that Christiana Love was having an extra marital affair with an unknown man in Germany, a reason for his frequent travels to the country.
Obaapa Christie in a sharp rebuttal accused his husband of raping her little sister while she was staying with them and enslaving her for nine years. These allegations and counter allegations put their marriage beyond repairs and the two finally had their divorce later in that same year.
Since then, Obaapa Christy has gone ahead to marry another man, with rumours circulating that it is the same man whom her ex-husband accused her of having an affair with during their marriage.
Brother Sammy and Ohemaa Jacky
In January 2017, gospel singer, Brother Sammy got entangled in one of the biggest sex scandals ever to hit a gospel artiste. The allegations made against him were damning and beyond repair.
Fellow gospel artiste, Ohemaa Jacky accused Brother Sammy of having an intimate affair with her, getting her pregnant and threatening to kill her if she did not abort the unborn baby. Ohemaa Jacky went granting several interviews to recount how her relationship with Brother Sammy begun.
According to her, she became friends with Brother Sammy after returning to Ghana in 2015. From there, their friendship grew into an intimate affair and resulted in a six-month pregnancy. She alleged that it was at that point that she started to receive threats from Brother Sammy, who was already married to abort the pregnancy.
However, Ohemaa Jacky claimed that she lost the pregnancy in its seventh month despite rumours that she aborted. Brother Sammy, however, granted several interviews after the allegations and denied being the father of that unborn baby but did not comment on his relationship with Ohemaa Jacky.
Esther Smith
Esther Smith is not the type of person to make headlines, whether good or bad. She simply lets her music talk for her. For close to two decades, she has been one of the best gospel artistes in Ghana, releasing soul-touching and spirit-filled gospel songs.
However a decade ago, in 2008, she got a taste of the bad media publicity when she and her husband decided to play out their marriage woes in the media. Esther Smith accused her husband Rev. Kwame Ahenkan Bonsu of beating her and having an affair with their house help.
Rev. Ahenkan also came out blazing, accusing Esther Smith of having an extra-marital affair with another man. The marriage could no longer stand and the two parted ways but the banter went on and on in the media, as the two kept throwing damning allegations against each other for months resulting in Esther Smith and Rev Ahenkan losing the respect the public once had for them.
Rev. Owusu Bempah
Earlier this year, popular man of God, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah found himself involved in some sex scandal allegations after a woman made a video in which she claimed Rev. Owusu Bempah had slept with her and daughter, thereby committing incest.
Rev. Owusu Bempah was forced to come out and deny the allegations, insisting that it was a ploy by some detractors to destroy his reputation and collapse his church, Glorious Word Ministries International. Some few days later, a lady claiming to be the daughter of the woman in the circulated video came out to deny the allegations made by ‘her mother’.
According to the lady, known as Yvonne, she has never had any sexual encounter with Rev. Owusu Bempah and neither has the mother as she had claimed. Speaking to Roman Father on Atinka FM, she said her mother was making those allegations to destroy Owusu Bempah after she (Yvonne) opted out of a plot to extort money from the reverend minister.
Patience Nyarko
Husband snatching is no big deal in the Ghanaian society, as we witness them all the time in our various communities. It however becomes such a big deal when it involves a lady who is themed as a servant of God, doing the work of the Lord through gospel music ministration. At the beginning of this year, Gospel artiste Patience Nyarko was accused of snatching the husband of one Olivia Kumi.
The revelations were made by the embittered lady herself who accused Patience Nyarko of ruining her family ever since she came into the life of his husband, Wilson Kumi, who is the CEO of Trust Production, the record label that manages Patience Nayarko.
According to Olivia, Patience Nyarko had succeeded in snatching her husband and leaving her and the kids helpless to fend for themselves as the man no longer takes care of their children as he used to.
Prophet Bernard Afresa Taylor
The head pastor of Destiny Empowerment Chapel Ministry in 2016 found himself battling allegations of having sexual affairs with his female church members.
The allegations spread like wild fire after it was first reported by ghanacelebrities.com. What made it worse was one woman coming forward to narrate how the founder and leader of Destiny Empowerment Chapel Ministry had sex with her several times and later forced her to abort three pregnancies resulting from their sexual escapade.
According to the alleged victim, she was just the tip of the iceberg as the respected prophet engages in similar acts with other beautiful and young female church members.
Rev. Sam Korankye
Rev. Sam Korankye is undoubtedly one of the most popular men of God in Ghana, presiding over one of the biggest church in the country, Royal House Chapel International. He isn’t the type of pastor to make the news but in 2016 he did exactly that. He got involved in a public feud with Bishop Daniel Obinim of God’s Way Miracle Church International.
In the heat of their feud, Bishop Obinim accused Rev. Korankye Ankrah of engaging in fornication and being a gay man. These accusations got the public talking as Sam Korankye was one of the most disciplined and respected reverends in the country.
Several attempts by various media houses to get Sam Korankye to respond to the allegations proved futile as Rev. Korankye decided to ignore the damning allegations made against him.
Till this day, the truth and authenticity of the allegations is yet to be substantiated but it still remains a slur on the image of Rev. Sam Korankye.
Ernest Opoku Junior
There was a time when gospel musician Ernest Opoku was the biggest gospel act in the country but unfortunately his controversial lifestyle and alleged promiscuous ways overshadowed his talent and today he is hardly heard of in the music circles.
In 2013, the gospel singer made the headlines for all the wrong reasons when an audio recording, involving his wife and gospel artiste, Francisca Sarpong hit the internet. In the leaked audio, Francisca Sarpong was heard unleashing a barrage of insults on Ernest Opoku’s wife and admitting to having an amorous affair with the gospel artiste.
Ernest Opoku Jr, failed to come out to deny the allegations made by Francisca Sarpong with regards to his sexual relationship with her and the issue was left at the mercy of the public and entertainment pundits on radios and TVs. However that was just the beginning of the alleged promiscuous lifestyle of Ernest Opoku as similarsexual relationships with other celebrities including Tracy Boakye came up in later years.
Sex scandals, infidelities and divorces are no longer new or surprises to us anymore as they are increasingly becoming the norm each passing day but hey, when they involve people presumed to be in the Lord’s business, then it is a big deal because they are expected to lead the way and do the right thing to serve as an example to their followers.
