One Chigozie Emmanuel,Monday, told an Ikeja High Court how his pastor, Elijah Emenandy, allegedly introduced pornography and masturbation and anal sex to him in his church office.

Emmanuel,who testified against Emenandy, charged with sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault,was led in evidence by Lagos State counsel, Mr Olu Azeez.

He disclosed to the court that the incident happened when he was 19 years old and the defendant was his pastor.

He said that the defendant had in December 2020, told his mother that he had a vision about the witness, where he would die in February 2021 and requested that his mother should bring him for prayers immediately.

He said,when his mother told him he did not take it seriously but the defendant sent a message again that he should see him immediately.

Speaking on how he went to see the pastor, the alleged survivor said: “My mum and I then went to see him in his church during an evening programme. Afterwards, when he wanted to see me, he asked if my mum should come along but I said I could handle it.

“He told me we had met before in a church (name withheld) and that he was my teacher in the church, then I remembered how I knew him. He said he got a vision of how I died in February 2021 and I asked him if he could give me a solution.

“He said he would pray for me and I should come for counselling every Tuesday, he told me other things and that he would be giving me spiritual assignments.

“He asked me questions like if I had ever had sex before or masturbated and if I watched pornography, also asked if I had wet dreams or if I was into fraud, I said I had not done those things but I was about getting into fraud.

“He advised me not to get into fraud and I should change my lifestyle and I did, I stopped wearing earrings, my dress code and how I speak.”

He said that one of the days thereafter, he called him to his office and asked him to take off his trousers and that he should touch his manhood until he became hard, but he said he could not because he had never done that before.

He told the court that in the days afterwards, the defendant would take off his clothes and ask him to do the same and sit on his lap and then make him suck the defendant’s nipples.

He added that at first, he refused but the defendant told him that he was releasing powers from his body parts to his to wade off any spirit of death.

The alleged survivor said the defendant started showing him porn videos on his phone to teach him how to masturbate in his church office.

He said that the pastor asked him to stand on a Bible and masturbate.

The witness said he could not do what the pastor asked him to do, he therefore stepped donwt from the bible and went to the bedside where the defendant lay watching him.

“After trying for some time, I ejaculated and the defendant looked at my semen and said it was ok,” he noted.

According to the witness, the pastor told him that he should ejaculate more often and then called him to the bed to lay with him and suck his nipples.

“He asked me to suck his nipple until he ejaculates and said that was how he had helped other boys and that was how we did that at his friend’s house twice after that day.

“Then we started again at the church, he will just go naked and asked me to suck his nipples and masturbate, that every time we ejaculated together, life was transferred from his own to mine so that I won’t die. I believed him because he was like my spiritual father.

“He then promised to help with my education and everything, that I should move to his house after telling my mum, but I did not tell my dad. I moved to his room and parlour self-contained apartment somewhere in Mile 2.

“I met a guy, a lady and a little baby in the house. The lady and the child slept in the room while we slept in the parlour. At night, he started touching me again and made me suck his nipples while he sucked mine, we did this every night.”

The witness further said that the defendant, thereafter, requested to penetrate his anus, but he refused and the next morning the defendant was angry, accusing him of refusing to do the work of God with him (defendant).

He told the court that days later, because the defendant was persistent, he agreed to anal sex and was seriously bruised afterwards because he bled for two days.

According to him, the pastor made him masturbate with the defendant twice daily.

He said the next assignment was to drink the defendant’s urine, an act, he said, he refused at first but later did after much persistence.

The alleged survivor further said that the defendant would ejaculate in his mouth and said it was power being transferred.

Emmanuel said the defendant also told him to eat his faeces which he did once and vomited, however problem started when he started watching pornography on his own with the phone the defendant gave to him.

He said the defendant asked him to always watch same-sex pornography and not the opposite and he would beat him up, whenever he had a wet dream, piercing his manhood, scrotum and his stomach with a syringe.

He informed the court that on one occasion, the defendant used the middle to pierce his veins and black blood started gushing.

The alleged survivor said that at one time, the defendant pierced his body, used St. Micheal oil on his eyes, poured grounded pepper on his body that was bleeding and asked him to eat the faeces of a dog which he did after much force and he vomited.

Justice Oyindamola Ogala adjourned the case until Dec. 11 and Dec. 14 for continuation of trial.

The defendant, who appeared sick and was reported to have been brought from the hospital, is standing trial on a three-count charge of sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault.

Mohammed Shosanya

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has trained 500 youths in Cross River State on solar power installation and maintenance.

The exercise took place in three locations: Calabar, Bekearra and Ogoja, making a significant contribution to the country’s sustainable energy sector.

At the closing ceremony of the training, Abdulmalik Halilu, Director, NCDMB, Planning, Research and Strategy,hinted that the Board initiated the programme to create employment opportunities in the country, generate wealth and empower the youths to contribute to the economy of the nation.

According to him, technology, skill acquisition in trades and agriculture are some of the high-impact economic sectors.

Director, NCDMB, Planning, Research and Statistics, emphasised that the unreliability of electric power is a major challenge affecting citizens’ quality of life and the success of business enterprises in Nigeria and Africa, hence the clamour for renewable energy solutions to become a major part of the energy mix.

He added that it was important for Nigerians to prepare and position themselves for opportunities in the renewable energy space, particularly because the nation enjoys abundant sunlight.

According to him, solar power installation and maintenance training provided an alternative source of power at homes and offices to support the national power grid in addition to providing job opportunities for the youths.

He disclosed that as part of the end-to-end planning for the programme, the Board has concluded arrangements to register cooperative societies for the group as well as provide shops where they would practice their trades.

He added:“The trainees will commence business as registration of cooperatives and the provision of shops in groups for the graduates has been done.

“This empowerment programme was aimed at providing lifelong support to youths that desired to be empowered in high impact economic sectors including oil and gas, Information and Communication Technology, Agriculture, construction, and others.

He expressed confidence in the potential of the trainee, adding that they are a pool of qualified talented youth equipped with capacities and capabilities to trouble shoot issues, proffer solutions, assemble, install and maintain solar projects that are currently largely import dependent.

He further implored Nigerian youths to take advantage of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Joint Qualification System (NOGICJQS), adding that the platform is used to select participants for human capacity building interventions and employment opportunities whenever they are available.

Rt. Hon. Legor Idagbo, immediate past Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring, who facilitated the NCDMB fully funded training programme in the state commended NCDMB for training youths in Cross River state.

Mohammed Shosanya

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has punctures the stand of the human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN to pray the Federal High Court to compel the CBN to stop the alarming depreciation of the Naira.

The bank expressed this through a preliminary objection filed against Falana’s suit on the falling rate of the Naira and dollarisation of the economy.

It questioned Falana’s locus standi and also challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to entertain the case.

The bank prayed the court to dismiss tge case on the ground that it is statute barred.

In his reliefs in the originating summons, Falana in the suit number : FHC/L/CS/470/23 is seeking the order of the Court to stop the CBN from allowing market forces to fix and determine the exchange rate of the Naira vis a vis other currencies in line with Section 16 of the Central Bank Act.

Besides,Falana prays the court to compel the CBN to stop the dollarisation of the economy since Section 20(1) of the Act stipulates that the Naira is the only legal tender in Nigeria.

The plaintiff has prayed the court for a declaration that by virtue of Section 16 of the Central Bank Act, the legal tender acceptable in Nigeria is Naira and kobo and that by the combined effect of Sections 15 and 20 (1) of the Central Bank Act, the currency notes issued by the defendant shall be legal tender in Nigeria

Falana also prayed the court for a declaration that by virtue of Section 16 of the Central Bank Act the exchange rate of the Naira shall be determined, from time to time, by a suitable mechanism devised by the Defendant for that purpose, as well as declaring that the Defendant is not competent to allow multiple exchange rates of the Naira vis a vis the dollars and other foreign currencies.

He further pray for a declaration that by virtue of Section 20(5) of the Central Bank Act the defendant is under a legal obligation to prosecute any person who refuses to accept the Naira as a means of payment in Nigeria.

He wants the court to hold that in line with the CBN Act the exchange rate of the Naira shall be determined, from time to time, by a suitable mechanism devised by the Bank for that purpose.

But in the preliminary objections filed on behalf of the bank by Mr Adeleke Agboola, SAN, the CBN contended that Falana has not in any way shown that he stands to suffer more than other citizens of Nigeria concerning the exchange rate policy of the CBN, adding that Falana has no locus standi to institute the case and that he has not reported those who are trading in dollars in Nigeria.

Other objections include the fact that Falana has not shown that the CBN acted in bad faith and that the plaintiff has not disclosed a reasonable cause of action against the CBN.

The bank is urging the court to dismiss the suit or in alternative strike out the suit on the ground that it lacks jurisdiction to entertain it.

It argued that the court lacks the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the suit and that the Plaintiff has not disclosed a reasonable cause of action against the CBN.

It said that the action is statute barred and that the action is not competent and maintainable against the Defendant.

Besides,it submitted that the substantive reliefs sought for by the Plaintiff has been overtaken by events, following the Central Bank announcement of unification of all segments of foreign exchange market in its Circular of 14 June, 2023.