Charlene Oyakhilome: Things You Didn’t Know about Her

If you’re a Christian in Nigeria, you must have heard of the charismatic televangelist, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.

Charlene is one of his daughters and in this post; you’ll learn some interesting things about her.

Who is Charlene Oyakhilome?

Charlene Oyakhilome is the second daughter and last born of Pastor Chris and Anita. She was born in 1995 and currently lives in London with her mother.

Charlene Oyakhilome’s father

Just in case you don’t know who Charlene’s father is, here’s a quick overview.

Charlene’s father, Chris Oyakhilome was born on the 7th of December, 1961. He is the founder of Believers Loveworld which is reputed to have one of the largest gatherings of youths and sophisticated young men and women in the country.

Pastor Chris seems to have embraced the life of preaching from a young age. He used to preach in schools and hold large crusades as a young preacher. Pastor Chris got married in 1991 to Anita Ebhodaghe and the couple was married for 25 years until their divorce on the 8th of February 2016.

Charlene’s mother

Charlene’s mother, Anita was one of the pioneer members of the Christ Embassy Church which was founded by her ex-husband, Chris Oyakhilome in 1990.

Anita studied English Language at the Edo State Univeristy now Ambrose Alli University. She met her ex-husband on campus and they got married in 1991. Anita is currently a divorcee living in London with her daughters.

Charlene’s sister

Charlyn’s older sister, Sharon is a UK based gospel act. Her stage name is Carissa Sharon Oyakhilome (CSO) and she’s a friend of the popular gospel singer, Frank Edward. Sharon dropped her debut single some time in 2014. The song was titled, ‘I’m Excellent’ and featured Ice Stanley.

Sharon recently got engaged in October 2017 to Philip Frimpong. Her mother, Anita shared the news on her Facebook page congratulating Sharon and Philip. Philip is the co-founder of an online platform, ONUA. The company is involved in advertising West African artistry. Philips runs the company with his sister.

Sharon’s engagement has dispelled any speculation in the media that she is in a romantic relationship with popular gospel singer, Frank Edwards.

Her parents’ divorce

Charlene’s parents were recently in the midst of a messy separation which ended in divorce. This was particularly amplified in the media because of the couple’s popularity.

Rumours began to spread when Pastor Anita stopped attending the Christ Embassy Church which she was a pastor in the United Kingdom.

The issue was said to have rocked the membership of Christ Embassy Church Worldwide. At some point, Pastor Chris had to travel to the U.K to douse the tension by meeting with his pastors and deacons. The meeting was held at the Bermondsey branch of the Christ Embassy church.

Pastor Chris highlighted bitterness as one of the major problems he faced in his marriage. According to him, his wife was always being bitter and angry.

He also accused Charlene’s mother of insubordination as she was being disrespectful to some older pastors that had being in ministry long before her.

He also claimed that her friends actually brought out the worst in her and caused her to perceive people wrongly. He advised that people should be careful with the kind of friends they keep.

On the other hand, Anita had filed for divorce on the basis of neglect and the inappropriate relationship which her husband was keeping with some female church members. According to her, she had made attempt to solve the issue by meeting with her husband severally but it wasn’t working out as she expected hence the divorce.

Also, there were several interesting posts in the media about the marital crisis rocking the home of the Oyakhilomes and a very interesting one was the open letter written by the London-based journalist, Emeka Asinugo to the couple.

The letter was quite long but below is some of the highlights from the post.

• It’s an attack of the devil on the Ministry of Anita and Chris Oyakhilome
• The couple should pray over the challenge and withdraw the law suit from court
• Pastor Chris shouldn’t let money and carnal things affect his marriage.
• Pastor Chris and Anita are not the first to go through this kind of trying times. Pastor Benny Hinn went through it and he was able to overcome
• Charlene and Sharon would be terribly affected by the impending divorce.
• Christians all over the world are praying for them and the write believed the couple will triumph at the end of the day to give the testimony of God’s goodness.

Unfortunately, it seems the letter did very little to solve the marital crises rocking the Oyakhilome as their marriage of twenty years was officially dissolved by a U.K court in 2016 .

Charlene’s uncle

Another prominent member of the Oyakhilomes is Pastor Chris’s younger brother, Pastor Ken Oyakhilome. Pastor Ken runs the Texas branch of Christ Embassy. Prior to moving to Texas, Pastor Ken was the Pastor in charge of the South African branch of the church. It would be recalled that Charlene’s uncle was also in the middle of a scandal a couple of years ago. He was said to have impregnated a church member in South Africa but had covered up by ensuring the lady did an abortion. According to the source, his wife Ose Oyakhilome was also aware of the development and she was said to have sanctioned the abortion.

Charlene’s aunt

Charlene’s aunt, Katty Worghiren nee Oyakhilome is another popular figure in the Christ Embassy Church.

She is the younger sister of Pastor Chris. She is currently the director of the Loveworld Music Ministry, Loveworld Creative Arts Academy and the Loveworld Children Ministry.

She has been involved in the ministry since inception working alongside her brother. Katty has raised many music ministers in the church. She is also the composer of the popular believer’s Loveworld anthem. She is the mother of the talented Daysman Oyakhilome. Daysman has produced many of the music videos released by the gospel acts involved with Christ Embassy. One of such is the video of the popular song by Sinach, ‘I know who I am’.