Nothing of much consequence has been heard of one of Nigeria’s most
influential screen goddesses, Genevieve Nnaji lately. Since ‘Tango With
Me’ or thereabout, in 2014, she had sort of gone off radar, leaving
questions over her career.
Genevieve Nnaj -and AY Unlike many of her peers, or shall we say,
colleagues, because Genevieve would not draw up many in the rank of a
peer, at least, not in the industry, has never been too present on
Instagram until lately.
But the real gist here, is that, she posted a picture of herself and
comedian AY, Ayo Makun, displaying a tattoo, her fans nearly tore off
their throats debating whether it’s fake or not.
What brought about this cosy pose? Could AY be drawing up his cast for
his next project ’10 Days in Sun City’ already? Well, if nothing is
brewing, not to worry Mabel, then success must attract success.
Rev. O. Jermaine Simmons Sr., pastor of the popular Jacob Chapel
Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, was forced to run for his life,
naked, when one of his parishioners caught him in bed with his wife on
Tuesday last week.
According to the Christian Post, the Tallahassee police reports Benjamin
Stephens III found his wife, Claynisha Stephens, 34, in bed with
37-year-old Pastor Simmons.
The pastor is married with one child, according to his church's website. Both Claynisha and Benjamin are his parishioners.
Claynisha, who has been married for seven years, told police that she first met Simmons in 2014, but
"they have been establishing a relationship" as of October 2016.
Last Tuesday, she said, Simmons came over to the home she shares with
her husband and their children so they could "talk over starting a
business, patents and trademarks, and providing less fortunate kids with
clothes and shoes."
During the meeting, she said they started having sex.
While they were engaged, her 6-year-old son's school was trying to get
in touch with her to pick him up. Since she did not answer, the school
reached out to the boy's father.
Benjamin picked up their son and headed home only to discover his wife engaged with Simmons in their oldest daughter's bedroom.
After seeing the pair having sex inside the room of his daughter, a
furious Benjamin grabbed his handgun and reportedly screamed, "I'm gonna
kill him," referring to the pastor.
On hearing the threat, the frightened pastor fled the couple's home
naked without waiting to see what would happen. The enraged husband
attempted to chase after the pastor but his wife stepped in front of him
and begged him not to kill her lover in front of their son who
witnessed the whole thing.
Claynisha told police that her husband decided against shooting her
because her son was present. She explained that she tried to gather the
pastor's clothes to return them to him but her husband took the clothes
and said he would drop them off at the church.
Claynisha said her husband stated that
he "should have shot Simmons and expose him."
He also threatened to expose him on Facebook and show up at church on Sunday to "make a statement."
She said she pleaded with her husband not to make a statement to the
church because it would make their pastor "look bad." Her husband
allegedly told her to "shut up" while still waving the handgun around
but not directly at her.
The frightened pastor eventually had one of his other parishioners pick
him up from where he was hiding and indicated that along with all his
clothes, Claynisha's husband had taken his car keys, wallet, business
keys and other personal effects.
Police were eventually able to arrange for the return of the pastor's belongings.
The pastor, according to the police report, declined to press charges
against Claynisha's husband, but Claynisha has indicated in a sworn
statement that she will be pressing charges against her husband. It was
unclear on Monday afternoon if she had acted on that statement.
The Christian Post reached out to Jacob Chapel on Monday and was told
that Simmons remained the pastor of the church. When asked if any action
had been taken against him regarding the incident, an official who did
not identify herself declined to comment.
A former parishioner, who wished to remain anonymous, told CP that
Simmons and his church had done a lot of good in the community prior to
the incident.
"Before this incident and that pastor — that church has done a lot of
good throughout that community. [The church] helped people with bills,
helped people find jobs, helped people get off drugs. There has been a
lot of positive things done in this church," he said. According to the
church's website, Simmons is the ninth pastor of the more than
80-year-old Jacob Chapel and he is also a fourth generation pastor and
former public school teacher.
Since his arrival at the church in 2005, more than "4,000 souls have been added to the Body of Christ and the local church."
"Under Pastor Simmons' leadership, Jacob Chapel has literally fed the
hungry, clothed the naked, ministered to those in prisons, and built
houses for those without shelter. It is the message of the Cross, the
death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ from the grave which
continues to fuel the fire that burns within this passionate preacher
and teacher," the church said. In his new book I Need a Man published in
2016, Simmons offers a fresh, down-to-Earth perspective on the issues
of godly manhood, mentoring, and identity.
"You cannot know who you are, nor can you discover what you were called
to do in this world outside of the context of your Creator — attempting
to define mankind outside of a biblical context is like trying to
understand an iPhone without Steve Jobs' input," he said
Here's a video of the pastor's apology to his congregation.
