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| Suspect, Apostle Paul & Victim, Faith |
A member of a new generation church in Asaba,
Delta State, called Apostle Paul, has been arrested after a missing young woman
was found in his shop one week after she was declared missing by her family.
The police said the young woman, identified
simply as Faith, was found behaving erratically as if she was mentally
unstable.
Paul is said to be a popular “prayer warrior” in
the church, who makes a living by selling water and anointing oil opposite the
church.
The police were alerted by the Behind Bars
Initiative in Asaba, Delta Sate, after the NGO was hinted that the girl was
found in Paul’s shop.
A human rights activist, who runs the NGO,
Gwamnishu Harrison says that, one week after Faith was declared missing by his
family, someone who knew her saw her in the shop and quickly alerted his
family.
“We received an SOS from a young boy who
was referred to our base in Onitsha, Anambra State, to help rescue 21-year-old Faith,
who had been missing since Friday, January 12, 2018.
“She was found by someone who knew her. When the
person who saw her in the shop greeted her, she did not give any sign that she
recognised the person or seemed to care when she was told that her family was
looking for her. That was when the person knew something was wrong.
“We learnt that the suspect even has a church of
his own. He is also a member of a church opposite his shop in Asaba, Delta
State, where he is a notable prayer warrior.
“We arrived the church along Ibusa Road, Asaba at
about 3pm and we saw the girl inside. Surprisingly, she was behaving strangely
like someone mentally unstable.
“Looking at the girl, we noticed she was not
behaving normally, she could not leave the presence of the pastor. We observed
that everywhere the man went, she followed. She followed his every moves.
“The family said she was perfectly fine when she
went missing and had no history of a mental illness.”
Harrison said once they attempted to approach the
suspect, he fled into the church premises.
He explained that trouble started when an
operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps refused to produce
the pastor to hand him over to the police.
Harrison alleged that the unidentified official
threatened to shoot him if he made an attempt to come into the church
presmises.
“Other pastors and security guards told us that
the case would be handled by the church council and no police had the right to
arrest someone inside the church.
“I left immediately to A Division, where the
missing person’s case had been reported. The police followed me back to the
church and got the pastor arrested.”
According to him, after the arrest, the pastor
was taken to his “hideout” along Ibusa Road where women’s clothes were found
inside a bag.
The pastor reportedly told the police that God
had revealed to him that the girl was his wife. He was quoted as saying, “I had
asked God for a young girl for marriage. Nothing can separate us.”
The police at A Division, Asaba, said that a test
carried out on the victim, showed signs of forceful penetration.
“The victim was taken to a hospital and tests
were carried out on her. The tests showed that she was a virgin and the hymen
had been torn. He would be charged with abduction and rape on Monday,” a police
investigator, who spoke on a condition anonymity, said.
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