Nobody will bring me down - Pastor Yiga

Pastor Augustine Yiga of Revival Church Kawaala has dismissed the rape allegations made by the woman who dragged him to Police. He claims she was hired by his rivals to smear him.

"If she is not being used, let her remove the sunglasses from her face so that she can be identified," Yiga said to his followers at the church shortly after being granted Police bond on Monday evening. 

"I have been weighed down by the events because they caused me stress, but I will return to my full strength and nobody will bring me down," he added. 

Yiga alias Abizaayo, was dragged to Police by Angel Ainembabazi from Sheema district who accused him of raping her when she joined his congregation in 2014 aged 15.

Yiga was detained at Kawempe Division Police headquarters after he turned himself in to record a statement on the matter on Friday.

(Photo credit: Francis Emorut)

Angel Ainembabazi, who joined the church at 15 years, accused the embattled pastor of sexually assaulting her instead of giving her spiritual redemption she sought for.

Before being granted police bond on Monday night, Police took him to the government analytical laboratory at Wandegeya in Kampala for a DNA test to establish the paternity of d Ainembabazi's child.

The CID spokesperson, Vincent Ssekate, before Yiga's release said the pastor faces more charges. Ssekate said they include rape, defilement, threatening violence and a separate case involving a person who allegedly died in Yiga's church.

Yiga and a number of other pastors, according to Ssekate are being investigated for allegedly defrauding their followers under the pretence of praying for them among other charges.

 Angel Ainembabazi. (Photo credit: Nancy Nanyonga)

Ainembabazi is the latest woman to accuse the embattled pastor of sexual assault.

"My friend told me that he was a strong man of God who would pray for me to attain my goal of going to work abroad in order to fend for my family since we are orphans.  And I also wanted to support myself to go for further studies," Ainembabazi said.

"I travelled to Kampala for the first time from Sheema and when I reached at Yiga's church, he told me that bondages upon my life were too much and I needed a special cleansing prayer. Instead, he raped me," she added.

"He asked his aides to direct me to a room and told me that he will pray for me at 2 am."

She narrated that she moved to South Sudan for employment and four months later she realised that she was pregnant.

On realising that she was pregnant after medical check-ups, Ainembabazi claims that she called Yiga who instead laughed at her.  

The accusation comes barely two years after his secret introduction ceremony in Kalagi, Mukono.

This is not the first time Yiga is being accused by women of various issues. In 2015, Prossy Nabukenya 23, a resident of Kawala, a Kampala suburb accused the pastor commonly known as 'Abizaayo' of neglecting a child he produced with her.

Nabukenya, a former church maid at Revival Church Kawala, told police that since she gave birth to Yiga's child, he had never given her any financial help and had disassociated himself from her.

A former member of his church, also a local singer accused Pastor Yiga of being unfaithful with women in 2015.

Talking to a Vision Group TV station, Bukedde TV, she accused Yiga of using women in his church.