Nigerian pastor, ex-wife in court over £1.5m UK property

Nigerian pastor, ex-wife in court over £1.5m UK property

Nigerian pastor Francis Irabor and his former wife, Auguste Irabor, are locked in a legal dispute over family assets worth £1.5 million in the United Kingdom after their separation.

The legal battle also involves the Great Calling Ministries Worldwide, a church co-founded by Irabor in Abuja before the family relocated to the UK in 2014.

The church granted Irabor loans to facilitate the relocation and purchase two houses in London.

However, when the couple’s marriage was dissolved in 2017, it triggered a series of legal actions involving the church as it sought to recover the loans while Ms Irabor fought for her share of the family assets.

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In May 2023, a family court recorder ordered Mr Irabor to pay his ex-wife a lump sum of £750,000 and other costs on a clean break basis.

Although Mr Irabor did not appeal the judgement, he supported the church’s appeal against the verdict at the Family Division of the High Court, Royal Court of Justice in London.

The church argued that the family court’s decision left it with no guaranteed means of recovering its unpaid loan from Mr Irabor.

However, on 11 April, Judge Jonathan Cohen upheld the family court’s verdict, awarding the lump sum and other costs in favour of Ms Irabor, who was burdened by debts and the upkeep of their four children in London.

Despite not being a direct appellant in the case, the High Court made scathing remarks about Mr Irabor, portraying him as a man living a comfortable life while “paying nothing towards the support of the children or their mother.”