What does Mrs Fatoyinbo know?

Abimbola Adelakun([email protected]^[1])

After the news broke that Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of
Commonwealth of Zion Assembly had “stepped aside” in the wake of
rape accusations against him, people called for thorough
investigations of the allegations to ascertain the truth. I agree
with them, but I must also add that any truth-finding mission has
to include his wife, Mrs Modele Fatoyinbo.

The way Mrs Fatoyinbo features in the accusations against her
husband makes me wonder what she knows and why she protects her
husband with such vehemence. She has been thrusting out her chest
to take bullets on his behalf and literally using her body as both
a moral cover and for the deflection of the attacks on him. Does
this woman trust her husband that implicitly or is this about some
psychological power dynamics that railroad her into the act?

During the church service on Sunday where she preached after the
case first broke, she was quick to assert his innocence by saying
he could not have raped anyone even as an unbeliever. According to
a report by The PUNCH, at that point, even the husband had to
snatch the microphone from her probably so she would not
incriminate him further with her chattiness.

On Monday, she reiterated his innocence and insisted that nobody
would take his place. She even sent a curse in the direction of the
“strange sons and daughters” sitting in their church. Meanwhile,
when the insinuations of the husband’s philandering started about a
month ago, some people, who claimed to be church members, said that
she was aware some women were ogling her husband and she had to
form “sexual security” around him.

In one of the stories told about her husband’s philandering, the
accuser claimed that during Pastor Fatoyinbo’s bid to sleep with
her, he said some uncomplimentary things about his wife. I wonder
if she read that and what she thought of it.

So, is Mrs Fatoyinbo overplaying her role as an ideal wife who
has to cover her husband’s alleged weaknesses or this is more of
her having an unshakeable trust in her husband? When Busola Dakolo
told her story, one of the things that interested me was the part
where she claimed that Mrs Fatoyinbo, a new mum at the time, asked
her to help her with the baby. For some odd reason, a man allegedly
rapes a girl on a Monday and the following Sunday, the wife chose
that same person to come over to their house and help her with the
newborn baby. What experience was a teenage girl supposed to have
with such a task that could have been left for someone older or
experienced? It was when the pastor was taking her back home that
the alleged second rape happened.

I find all of these coincidences in the story curious. I think
it is not enough for us to call for the pastor to submit himself to
a thorough investigation, but the wife needs to answer some
questions to ascertain whether she is an active collaborator or
another pawn in a game of psychological manipulation and abuse. The
truth matters in this kind of case and that is because it is not
possible to have a situation where a single person will have
multiple accusations of abuse of power, trust and privilege laid
against him without also having a village of enablers who make it
happen.

No serial abuser, especially one in a position of power and
privilege as a pastor has, ever works alone. He needs the support
of those around him to abuse victims without consequences
perpetually. These accomplices not only watch the crime happen, but
they bury the bodies too. We saw how that happened in the case of
Chukwuemeka Ezeugo aka Rev King – how his church not only protected
him but also traumatised his victims. Left to them, the man will
still be walking free and assaulting poor women with his anointing.
As we also see with the cases of scandals in the Catholic church,
when you cover up sex abuses to protect the image of the church,
you end up with the institutionalisation of abuse and assault.

That said, investigations should not only involve Mrs Fatoyinbo,
but also some of the COZA pastors. The two women, Ese Walter and
Busola Dakolo, who have spoken against Pastor Fatoyinbo, told
different stories. You cannot but see patterns of alleged cover-ups
by his pastors in their allegations. The two women mentioned Pastor
Folarin Ogunsola (or Pastor Flo, as they called him) of COZA Lagos
chapter. Both Ese Walter and Busola Dakolo’s stories allegedly
occurred in different places and even over time, yet the same man’s
name featured? That is too much of a coincidence. He sounds like
the hit man of a mafia empire, the character that either pays off
victims or arranges for them to disappear.

Mind you, this Pastor Folarin has yet to deny a thing since this
started. I think he should be subject to a thorough investigation
on what he knows and what role he has played in the alleged abuses
by Pastor Fatoyinbo. Busola Dakola also mentioned a Pastor Wale
Soetan. He too should be questioned on this. If there was a rape
and he knew about it but kept quiet or helped to cover up, he has
committed a crime for which he should be punished.

Finally, while I must reiterate that Pastor Fatoyinbo remains
innocent until proved otherwise, I think he should not be
investigated alone. In Nigeria, rape has thrived because bad men do
not respect other people’s body autonomy and they arrogate to
themselves the right to someone else’s body. At the same time, rape
also thrives, particularly in intimate spaces, because some of
these bad men enlist their wives. They use them as a decoy, to
project the façade of a responsibly married man even though they
are predators.

Some women go along either because they are perverts themselves
or because they want their husband to be obliged to them for giving
him the needed cover to perpetuate his acts. That is how some men
have been able to rape their domestic staff and even their own
children. Some other women become accomplices because their lives
are built around their marriages. If the man should pull the rug
off their feet, they will be cast into the dark room of
ordinariness. If they are pastors’ wives, they will lose the
privilege of being “Mummy in the Lord” to the fawning handmaids of
the Lord’s vineyards. It is a frightening prospect and not every
woman can muster the courage to walk away.

There is a lot that one can say about pastors’ wives and how
they are (willingly) used as a body cover when their husbands face
charges of sexual impropriety. When Apostle Johnson Suleman was
accused of adultery, he not only whipped out his wife to fight
back, but they also jointly made a silly “love video” that beat
everything you ever saw in cheap Indian films. A woman with some
self-respect would have urged her husband to resolve his issues and
not involve her, but what was at stake was a question of power. It
should not surprise anyone that when he rewarded her with a gift,
he also made a public show of it. He was not just showing his
gratitude but also sending a message about the hold he has over
her.

Again, I acknowledge that Pastor Fatoyinbo remains still
innocent until otherwise proved. I hope he submits himself for an
investigation and clears his name. When all of these is over, we
should also ask about Mrs Fatoyinbo. What does she know and what is
the role she has been playing since all of these started say about
her?

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