The grieving family of 10-year-old boy, Gerald Onye who died after he allegedly fell from church of God Mission, stairs, has demanded for justice, describing the silence by the international church authority as deafening.
The circumstances surrounding the tragic incident that occurred on Sunday May 24, 2026 at the Airport Road Headquarters of church in Benin City where the family had worshipped for years, has drawn public outrage.
Speaking in an interview, Lucky Onye, the distraught father of the victim, alleged that his wife handed over her children, including Gerald when she arrived the church.
Onye said while his wife went into the main church auditorium, before she suddenly took ill and left her children who also attend the church owned Word of Faith Group of Schools in Benin City, behind to enable her attend to medical need when tragedy stuck.
According to him, “On that 24th of May, the children went to the church with their mother. Ordinarily, I use to go to the church with them. But I didn’t go with them and their mother has not been in church for like two weeks because she has not been fine for like two weeks.
“The information we heard is that the child fell from the stairs. There was no announcement made to inform the mother, so that the child can be taken to a better hospital.
“I think there are two hospitals there, Mother and Child and the Refill Hospital. The security person took him there without informing the mother of the child.
“So, when she came back and told me, I asked her where the child was. She said they were administering drugs on him. When I got to the hospital and saw the doctor, I asked him, what do we do? He said he will carry out an x-ray the next day, which will be Monday”, the deceased father said.
He also stated that he was surprised that an immediate x-ray was not conducted despite the condition of his son.
“I looked at the boy, you could not even recognize him, some of his teeth were missing, his body was swollen. I asked why the x-ray would not be done immediately. The doctor said the hospital where they will do the x-ray has closed for the day.
“A doctor convinced me that the child will be okay, that he just needed pain relief drugs. But the next morning, when I got there, I found out the boy’s stomach was swollen up and he was on oxygen.
“We had to make arrangements to take him to Specialist Hospital, but before we got there, he had passed on”, according to Onye.
He further alleged that he discovered, while trying to obtain the death certificate, that the hospital where his son was taken belonged to an elder of the church.
“It was when we went to the hospital to get the death certificate that I found out that the hospital belongs to an elder in the church, and the doctor said he is not giving me the certificate, that the case is with my lawyer.”
The deceased father expressed disappointment over what he described as the silence of the church leadership since the incident.
“Till now, I have not received a call from the head pastor, no call from the owner of the church, nobody is talking to us, nobody is telling us anything. Gerald attends the Word of Faith Group of Schools before his transition.
“They are the owner of Faith Mediplace, why didn’t they take the child to Faith Mediplex? From the church to their hospital is not more than four minutes.
“Why did they take my son to that hospital? They separated this child from his mother and they can’t take full responsibility.
“Church of God Mission has put me in pain, and no answer”, he queried.
But,,Pastor Precious Ighile, of the Media and Publicity Department of the Church of God Mission alleged that she was not aware of the full details of what happened.
But she alleged that the victim’s father brought a lawyer and the church lawyers are discussing with them.
“I don’t know the details, but I know that the father of the boy came with a lawyer and the church lawyers are
talking with them”, according to her.
