By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has sentenced the General Overseer of the Mission House of Divine Land of Joy and Prayer Ministry, Pastor Ajiboye Olayinka, to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting three minors within the church premises.
Justice Hammed Gegele delivered the judgement on Wednesday, May 13, noting that the cleric was found guilty of multiple offences bordering on unlawful sexual intercourse with minors, illegal abortion, and unlawful possession of firearms.
Justice Gegele held that the convict exploited his position as a religious leader to manipulate and sexually abuse underage girls entrusted to his care.
“The convict turned his victims into sex machines, abusing them physically and mentally,” the judge said.
The court held that the convict repeatedly impregnated some of the victims, forced them to terminate the pregnancies, and threatened them not to reveal the abuse to anyone.
It noted that the victims were subjected to intimidation and psychological manipulation, including being compelled to swear oaths of secrecy with the Bible under threats of death should they disclose the incidents.
“One of the victims narrated how the defendant took her to a generator house where he forcefully had sexual intercourse with her after applying anointing oil as lubricant,” Justice Gegele said.
The judge further recounted that the victim told the court she was often woken up after night vigils for repeated sexual encounters by the cleric.
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Justice Gegele described the convict as “a pedophile and philanderer,” stressing that the actions of the defendant were condemnable and unacceptable in any decent society.
The court imposed three separate life imprisonment sentences on the convict for the offences relating to unlawful sexual intercourse with minors.
It also sentenced Olayinka to 14 years’ imprisonment for carrying out illegal abortions linked to pregnancies involving the victims.
The defendant had earlier faced an eight-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy, unlawful sexual intercourse with minors, illegal abortion, and unlawful possession of firearms, actions that contravene Sections 97, 235 and 283 of the Penal Code, Section 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, 2004, and Section 31(2) of the Kwara State Child Rights Law, 2006.
During the trial, the prosecution team, led by Chief State Counsel Issa Zakari, called 12 witnesses and tendered several exhibits before the court to establish the case against the defendant.
On February 11, 2026, the prosecution cross-examined the defendant and his witnesses before both parties adopted their final written addresses ahead of judgement.
Justice Gegele further ordered that the pump-action gun recovered from the convict be forfeited to the Federal Government.
