“This Is Why Christianity Isn’t Taken Seriously” Pastor Andrew Emajere Questions Tonto Dikeh’s New Ministry

“Christianity Has Now Turned Into Something Else” Pastor Andrew Emajere Sparks Debate Over Tonto Dikeh’s Religious Journey

Abuja, August 18, 2026, Pastor Andrew Emajere made unrestrained comments on Evangelist Tonto Dikeh’s ministry
“What does Tonto Dikeh know in the spiritual world that convinced her to open a prayer ministry? She built a church worth of 300 million, how did we arrive here?” Pastor Andrew Emajere of COGA Ministries asked while addressing his congregation, questioning how the actress-turned-evangelist arrived at the point of establishing a spiritual movement. He went further: “If I be president, before you can open a church you must pass through screening. Christianity has now turned into something else.”

Those comments have now pushed Tonto Dikeh’s dramatic religious transformation into a fresh national conversation: Can a person with a controversial past move into Christian ministry so quickly, and does a powerful testimony automatically qualify someone to lead others spiritually?

How It Started

The controversy began after Dikeh unveiled the New Wine Prophetic Tabernacle (NWPT) in Abuja on August 9, 2026. Rather than describing it simply as a church, she presented it as an interdenominational altar, spiritual home and movement for believers seeking prayer, revival, spiritual training and deeper commitment to Christianity.

According to the ministry’s own description, NWPT is intended to bring together “consecrated believers” seeking what Dikeh describes as genuine revival and transformation. She also announced Friday fellowship meetings in Abuja.
The announcement immediately attracted attention because Dikeh is not coming into the religious space as an unknown figure. She is one of Nigeria’s most recognisable entertainers, with years of public exposure, controversies, political involvement and an intensely scrutinised private life behind her. That history is now being placed side by side with her new identity as an evangelist.

From Nollywood Celebrity To Evangelist

Tonto Dikeh became widely known through Nollywood after rising to prominence in the mid-2000s. Her acting career, public relationships, philanthropy and political activities kept her in the Nigerian media spotlight for years.

She later moved beyond entertainment into humanitarian work and politics, including becoming the running mate to Rivers State governorship candidate Tonye Ibraye of the African Democratic Congress in the 2023 election.

Her private life was also heavily covered by the media, particularly her marriage to Olakunle Churchill and their eventual separation. Those years contributed to the public image that now forms part of the background to her religious transformation.
But Dikeh has recently presented a very different account of herself.

In December 2025, she stood before worshippers at Streams of Joy International Church during a service associated with Pastor Jerry Eze’s NSPPD and gave one of the most revealing testimonies of her life.

She said she began smoking at 13 and continued for 27 years. She also spoke about alcohol addiction, masturbation, anger and what she described as years of spiritual oppression. According to her testimony, she had reached a point where she believed her life had been deeply affected by these struggles before experiencing what she described as divine intervention.

Dikeh said she almost kept the testimony private because of concerns about her public image. Instead, she chose to expose parts of her past before a congregation.

Her argument was essentially that she did not want to protect the reputation of the old Tonto at the expense of publicly acknowledging what she believed God had done in her life.

The Past She Says She Is Leaving Behind

The story became even more controversial in March 2026 when Dikeh spoke in Tanzania at the Women of Fire Prayer Conference.

There, she described her former life in much stronger spiritual terms.
Dikeh said she had become involved in what she now regards as a “wicked world” and stated that she had “joined a cult” and “worked with demons.” She presented those experiences as part of a troubled past from which she believes she has been rescued.
She told worshippers that she believed God had restored her and would use her to preach the gospel.
Those revelations have become particularly important in the current argument.

To her critics, the question is not simply whether Dikeh has changed. It is how long a person should remain under spiritual training and accountability before taking responsibility for a ministry.
To her supporters, however, her past is precisely why her testimony matters.
They argue that Christianity is fundamentally about redemption, and that a person’s former life should not permanently determine what he or she can become.

From Testimony To Ministry

Dikeh’s transformation did not happen overnight in the public record.
After her December 2025 testimony, she increasingly used her platform to speak about Christianity. She continued attending Christian programmes, sharing prayers and testimonies, and became increasingly visible in religious circles.

By early 2026, reports also described her as participating in discipleship and engaging in ministry-related activities. Premium Times reported in March that she had completed a discipleship programme and had subsequently conducted a deliverance session.

Then came the announcement of NWPT in August. Dikeh described the initiative as a place for prayer, revival, spiritual training, evangelism and the development of believers. She specifically said it was not a conventional church, describing it instead as an intense gathering of people who are consecrated and equipped for God’s purposes.

That distinction, however, has not stopped the public from treating the development as Dikeh’s entry into church leadership.
And that is where Pastor Emajere’s criticism comes in.

Why Pastor Emajere objected

Emajere’s objection appears to have several layers.
First, he questioned Dikeh’s spiritual preparation.
His central question was: What does she know spiritually that qualifies her to establish and lead a prayer ministry?

Second, he questioned the speed of the transition. Dikeh’s highly publicised testimony about her transformation came only months before the launch of NWPT, leading him to ask how quickly someone should move from repentance and personal transformation into spiritual leadership.

Third, he questioned the wider Nigerian religious environment.
Emajere argued that there should be some form of screening before people establish churches or ministries. He suggested that Christianity has become too loosely regulated and said this contributes to the religion not being taken seriously.

He also made comments about “Mummy GOs” and women, including a claim linking the emergence of female church leaders with disrespect toward husbands. Those remarks added a gender dimension to an argument that initially centred on spiritual qualification.

Those Supporting The Pastor: “She moved too quickly”

Some Nigerians agree with Emajere’s concerns.
The argument is not necessarily that Dikeh cannot be a Christian. Rather, critics distinguish between being a believer and being a spiritual leader.
One youth pastor quoted by Legit.ng argued that starting a ministry may have come too soon, given the relatively recent public testimony about her surrender to Christ.

Some social-media users went further.
One commenter, identified as @RealCupidCorner, questioned whether the emergence of celebrity-led churches is increasingly becoming financially motivated, arguing that some people may not actually have been called by God but instead create ministries to exploit people’s faith.

Another commenter, @OdionofEsan, criticised what he saw as a new route to money and influence.

@banji_Henrietta took a more sceptical approach, reducing Dikeh’s public career to a series of transitions “From acting to politics to evangelism” and asking what might come next.

The common thread running through these reactions is suspicion about timing.
For this group, the concern is not that a former actress cannot become an evangelist. It is that spiritual authority should be demonstrated through sustained character, preparation, service and accountability rather than established immediately after a public testimony.
There is also a wider concern about celebrity culture entering the pulpit.

A celebrity already possesses something many ordinary ministers spend years building: an audience. That creates both an opportunity and a danger. A large following can help spread a religious message, but popularity itself does not demonstrate theological knowledge, pastoral maturity or spiritual accountability.
That is the question Dikeh’s critics want answered.

Others fire back: “Who decides who is called?”

Dikeh’s defenders have a completely different interpretation.
For them, Emajere’s criticism risks turning Christianity into a profession where only people with a particular background are allowed to preach.

They argue that Dikeh has never hidden the uglier parts of her history. Instead, she has publicly discussed her addictions, anger and spiritual experiences precisely because she wants people to see what she believes God has changed.
Her supporters therefore ask a different question:
If Christianity teaches forgiveness, repentance and transformation, why should a person’s past permanently disqualify them from serving God?

Another defence is that Dikeh has not claimed to have emerged from nowhere.
Her supporters point to her months of public testimonies, prayer activities and discipleship-related experiences before the establishment of NWPT. They argue that the transformation has been a process rather than a single announcement.
Some also challenge the pastor’s focus on her gender.

The remarks about “Mummy GOs” have led some Nigerians to question whether the opposition would have been equally strong if a male celebrity had made the same transition from entertainment into ministry.

That argument is significant because Dikeh is entering a Nigerian Christian environment where female religious leaders already exist. Her supporters therefore see Emajere’s criticism partly as a theological disagreement and partly as a reflection of traditional expectations about women and religious authority.

Some of the online responses have been more confrontational.
Rather than debating whether Dikeh is qualified, some users turned the question back toward Emajere. Who determines his own spiritual qualification?

Their argument is that if ministers are demanding evidence of calling, preparation and spiritual authority from Dikeh, the same standard should apply to every pastor.

One reaction captured the argument by questioning whether spirituality works like an academic qualification, where one person can simply declare himself a “graduate” while deciding that another person is not spiritually qualified.

Another sarcastic response suggested that Emajere’s objection may simply be resentment toward another person entering the same religious space.

There was also a more restrained defence: if people believe Dikeh’s ministry is wrong, they do not have to attend it.
One commenter, @IamEriOluwa, expressed that position simply: the important thing is that Jesus is preached, and those who disagree are free not to attend her gathering.

These reactions shift the debate from “Is Tonto Dikeh qualified?” to a broader question of religious freedom, personal calling and who has the authority to judge another person’s spiritual journey.
But there is a middle ground
The argument does not necessarily have to end with either Emajere or Dikeh being completely right.

Dikeh’s supporters are correct that a troubled past does not automatically make genuine repentance impossible. Christianity is built around the possibility of transformation.

But Emajere’s underlying concern about accountability is also a legitimate question.
A testimony can demonstrate what a person believes God has done for them. It does not, by itself, establish that the person is ready to counsel vulnerable people, interpret Scripture responsibly, handle ministry finances transparently, manage a congregation or exercise spiritual authority over others.

Bottom line.

The controversy surrounding Tonto Dikeh is therefore bigger than one actress and one pastor.
It is a clash between two ideas of Christian leadership: one that places strong emphasis on training, experience and institutional accountability, and another that places greater emphasis on personal transformation, testimony and a perceived divine calling.

Dikeh’s past is undeniably dramatic, but she herself has made that past part of her testimony. Her critics see the same history as a reason for caution; her supporters see it as evidence of the transformation she says she has experienced.
For now, the New Wine Prophetic Tabernacle has become a test of how Nigerians respond when celebrity, repentance and religious leadership meet.

The bigger question may not be whether Tonto Dikeh is allowed to preach. It may be whether a public testimony should be enough to establish spiritual authority or whether genuine calling must also be accompanied by time, training, accountability and proven character.

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