Woman Files "Spiritual 419" Suit Against Her Pastor For Dumping Her

A 33-year-old lady, Kwanye Tumba, tells HINDI LIVINUS about a lawsuit she filed against a 28-year-old pastor who allegedly made a false marriage promise to her

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Kwanye Tumba. I am 33 years old.

How did you meet Pastor Marwa Tumba who you took to court over his alleged false marriage promise to you?

I actually met with him on November 28, 2018 at Praise Land Yolde-Pate, where he was a guest minister at a revival  programme organised by Apostle Divine Vandi, the pastor in charge of Praise Land Ministry.

Is that the church where you worship?

No. I worship at EYN (Ekklesiyyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria) Church. It was a neighbour, who we all call ‘Amarya Soldier’, that told me that Apostle Divine Vandi had a prayer programme at Yolde-Pate, which she usually attended and wanted me to also attend. I honoured the invitation. Usually, when invited to such programmes, if I get the leading of the Holy Spirit, I would attend. It was at the programme that I met Marwa Tumba. After the close of the service, he came to me and told me that God had blessed me with a husband and that he was that my husband-to-be. He then asked me to sow a seed, which I did. I sowed a seed of N1,000 to him. It was there that our love journey started.

What made you think he was serious about what he said?

He came to my home. I was so excited about his visit. He took me to his mother and introduced me to her. I liked their home because they welcomed me well. After this, he asked me to join him in his church and ministry. He worships with Freedom Power Chapel at Mayanka. I obliged him. We were doing very fine without any problem. He then told me he wanted to marry me and said I must sell my house which I built and was living in.

Did you agree with him to sell the house?

Yes, I agreed with him. I sold the house for N500,000, though I spent about N1.5m to build it.

Why did you sell it at a loss?

It was not my fault. Since I wanted to marry him I tried to honour him as my husband-to-be. I loved him and I also believed at the time that it was God that joined us together.  Since I saw the vision, whatever he told me to do, I did. In fact, after I met him, I was no longer in my (normal) senses. I don’t think I knew what I was doing because whatever he told me to do, I will just did without even thinking.

Do you think he hypnotised you or was it simply a case of love?

When we met he loved me so much. This I know. In the beginning, we met and called (phoned) each other regularly. Whatever he told me to do, I just did. The only thing he didn’t do, however, was to sleep with me. I honoured him, firstly, as a man of God; secondly, as my husband-to-be and thirdly, because I saw that vision. But later, his attitude towards me began to change. He started telling me there was no compulsion in marriage. But this was after he had made me sell my house; after I had supported his ministry by sowing seeds and giving him cash gifts.

After selling the house for N500,000, what exactly did you do with the money?

I first gave him N50,000 out of the money as tithe; which he requested. But even if I were to pay my tithe, was I supposed to pay into his personal (bank) account? Afterwards, he began to collect the money from me in bits. There was a time he asked me to lend him N107,000, which I did. I also remember giving him another N50,000 from my account.

Do you have evidence of these sums you claimed to have given him?

I have evidence of the money that I gave him. For instance, the N107,000 I gave him, the payment was done through my bank. He repaid me N100,000, quite okay. There was another N50,000 that I transferred to him from my account and other payments which were made through Point of Sale machines. Most of the transactions I did with him through POS were carried out while I was away in Michika with my mother. I also remember paying N40,000, which he said was for vows.

From my records, the only thing I was able to buy from the N500,000 which I got from the sale of my house were eight clothes and four (pairs of) shoes. Apart from these, there was no other tangible thing I did with that money. Most of the money went to him, because I kept withdrawing the money to give to him. And when the money got finished, he stopped caring about me. I was the one calling him, wondering what the problem was. Sometimes he avoided my calls and on other occasions be picked my calls.

You said you built your house for N1.5m. Where do you work?

I was working with the American University of Nigeria, Yola as one of their security personnel but I was later relieved of the job. When I met him (Marwa), I was without a job. I was just sustaining myself by hawking food items and selling groceries to workers at the state secretariat and federal secretariat. Whenever I was broke, I would ask for assistance. The truth of the matter was that at some point I had to indulge in begging to support his ministry (sobbing).

Did you tell him you were borrowing money to support his ministry?

I don’t think he knew because if he is asked now, he will deny it.

But you are 33, while he is 28 years old. Did you know you were older than him then?

I knew. It was love.

Who advised you to go to court?

I decided to go to court because I can say what Tumba did amounted to false pretence to defraud (me). He promised to marry me and made me to sell my house. I have never seen anything like this before. My situation is a classic case of spiritual 419. My family abandoned me after they learnt I sold my house over a pastor’s false promise of marriage. Since that incident, I have become destitute; I worry about where to sleep. I got a place around the abattoir but thieves came to attack me at night, threatening to rape me. But if I have no other option, I will still go and sleep there. People that used to help me before withdrew their help after they learnt about what happened. They all said I was careless and foolish. But the Bible says there is a time for everything. I have become emotionally traumatised, I developed high blood pressure, just thinking about my misfortune. How would he make me to sell my house on the false promise that he would marry me? After I sold my house and exhausted my money on him, he ran away.