Taiye Adekan, a former member of a prayer group known as Abba’s Heart Ministry, allegedly led by a woman identified as Joy Solomon, has addressed claims of his involvement in the disappearance of Nigerian stylist, Ejiro.
TheNewsGuru earlier reports that CEO of NHN Couture, a well-known fashion entrepreneur, Nkechi Harry-Ngonadi raised the alarm over the weekend after she took to Instagram to question the whereabouts of her close friend, Ejiro. According to her, Ejiro had joined the group weeks ago and has since gone off the radar.
“Where is Ejiro? Few weeks ago, my heart was troubled about two amazing ladies who were close to me and suddenly disappeared, and one of them is Ejiro,” she wrote in a post.
“I have been praying intensely for both ladies, and my heart wasn’t at rest concerning Ejiro, especially. I tried calling and sending messages but to no avail. I reached out to her family, and what I heard was troubling, but I decided to carry out my personal investigations.”
The controversial ministry raised serious concerns following reports that individuals, particularly women who join the ministry cuts their loved ones off, and allegedly sell their properties and abandon their brands.
Ejiro’s brother, Ovie Daniels, in reaction to Harry-Ngonadi’s post disclosed that Adekan and his family had been living in Ejiro’s house, fueling suspicions about the cleric’s involvement in her disappearance.
Reacting to the allegations, Adekan, in a video via his Instagram page,disclosed that he and his family had left the ministry a long time ago and were also victims of the prayer group’s founder, Joy Solomon.
He alleged that Solomon instructed him to quit his job and commit to full-time ministry, pressured his family to give up their belongings and vacate their home, leaving them homeless for seven months.
He said he met Ejiro through Solomon, who presented an unusual housing opportunity, claiming that the missing stylist was relocating abroad and wanted to sow her property as a seed to the ministry.
He said, “We went for a prayer retreat at Ife, we went to Mount Camel, and around that period, I was told that I would need to stop working and go into full-time ministry. When Joy Solomon told me, I prayed about it and I felt peace about it as well.
“I resigned from employment and focused on ministry full time, and that took effect from October 2022. Now, without a 9-5, it was pretty difficult. We had to manage family and everything, the children’s school, feeding, utilities, and all that.
“It was in the middle of looking for a house that was when she called me and said Bishop Taiye, you might not need to look for a house. Something came into the picture, and that was how Ejiro came into the picture.
“Before now, I had not seen Ejiro physically. I did have an interaction with her sometime ago, but I did not know she was the one. She had reached out to me asking for prayers for her mum, who was supposed to go into surgery, and I prayed with her; that was all I knew.
“I did not know her personally, and I do get some of those requests from time to time, almost every day. That was my only interaction with Ejiro before this particular case, where I actually met her through Joy Solomon.”
Why We Left The Prayer Group
Corroborating her husband’s claims, Adekan’s wife said that Solomon’s disturbing demands and their refusal to isolate themselves from family led to their exit from the ministry.
She said, “I am Taiye’s wife. The reason why we’ve not come out to speak is because my husband has been speaking with Monique (Ejiro’s sister), they were on call yesterday night.
“Contrary to what is circulating, we were also victims of Joy Solomon. My husband was a member of the ministry. Our saving grace was that we refused to block our family members (parents and siblings), including some other instructions that were not aligned with us, and that was why we left.
“She told us that we were disobedient to Abba’s instructions, and we have failed all the tests he’s putting us through. In 2023, she had us give out our properties, and we were living in a motel until last year.
“The reason why people are not referring to us as missing is because we refused to isolate our family. At a point, she even told me that my dad wants to kill my husband, so I should block him and my siblings so that they won’t be able to reach us.
“She bought new SIM cards for us and registered them and told us to dispose of our old SIM cards and start using the ones she bought for us. Of course, we refused, and so did my husband… It’s time to leave these people.”