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Tag: pastor

  • Randy Benin pastor defiles four children, blames Devil

    Randy Benin pastor defiles four children, blames Devil

    A 48-year-old randy pastor, Otobong Emerson, who allegedly abused four children, aged between six and 11, has blamed the act on the devil.

    The suspect was to said to have repeatedly had carnal knowledge of the kids between December 2019 and February 2020.

    He was said to have confessed his illicit act to the General Overseer of his church, who later handed him over to the police for investigation and prosecution.

    He said: “it is the work of the devil, he pushed me because I just find myself sleeping with the girls.

    “I felt guilty every time I did it. So, I decided to approach my General Overseer to confess my sins. It was then he handed me over to the police.”

    Spokesman for the State Police Command, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor said. “the Gender Unit investigated a multiple case of defilement against one Pastor Otobong Emerson, aged 48, of Believers’ Ministry Church Incorporated, No. 146, Upper Owina, off Evbuotubu, Benin City.

    “The suspect made statement and confessed to the crime. The case has been charged to court and the suspect remanded in police custody and to appear in court on adjournment day on 11th June, 2020.”

    Also, the police had arrested a couple for selling their two months old baby to one Felicia Imaguomaruomwan for N300,000.

    The police spokesman said the operatives had recovered the baby and afterwards took him to an orphanage home at Oka, Upper Sakponba Road, in Benin City for care.

    Similarly, Chidi further disclosed that the command had secured the conviction of one Patrick Ayesen for unlawfully impregnating his 18-year old daughter.

    He said Patrick, 38, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the offence.

  • Tragic! Pastor arraigned for raping epileptic teen

    Tragic! Pastor arraigned for raping epileptic teen

    General Overseer of the Holy Ghost Mission Church, Pastor Peter Alatake, has been arraigned before an Owo Magistrate court for raping a 16-year-old epileptic secondary school student.

    The victim was said to have been taken to his church for deliverance but Pastor Alatake ended up raping the girl several times, it was said.

    Pastor Alatake was alleged to have raped the girl between the 15 and 20th of April and it led to the victim developing complications in her vagina and anus.

    A medical test conducted at Medical Centre, Owo allegedly confirmed the complications before the suspect was detained.

    Alatake was arraigned on a one-count charge of unlawfully having carnal knowledge of a minor, an offence punishable under section 357 of the criminal laws of Ondo state.

    He pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to him and the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Adekola Olawoye announced the decision of the state to prosecute the case.

    Counsel to the suspect, Aderemi Adetula, pleaded for bail in view of the ongoing decongestion of prisons and promised to provide credible sureties to ensure his client is available for justice.

    Presiding Magistrate, Olubumi Dosumu, granted bail in the sum of N500,000 and two sureties in like sum.

    The sureties, according to Dosumu, must be a general overseer of a reputable church in Owo and a Director in the civil service with national identity card, evidence of one year tax clearance and landed property in the magisterial district

    The case was adjourned to June 18, 2020 for further hearing based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution.

    Also, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kaduna State command, has arrested one Benjamin Jato for allegedly defiling a six-year-old girl.

    Command spokesman Orndiir Terzungwe made the disclosure in a statement on Wednesday in Kaduna.

    Terzungwe said the 32-year-old suspect, Jato, who claimed to be a carpenter, was arrested at Bayan-Dutse in Chikun Local Government Area on April 21 by members of Quick Response Unit of the command.

     

  • Anyone who assaults, arrests a pastor during COVID-19 pandemic is in danger – Oyakhilome

    Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, founder, Christ Embassy has warned that anyone who arrested a pastor in this Coronavirus period is in danger.

    He was speaking on reports that some pastors were arrested by government officials in a bid to enforce social distancing in churches.

    He said the authority went in there and arrested the pastor and that the leader of the gang was so pompous and announcing how he succeeded in arresting the pastor.

    “He was excited he arrested a Pastor. Terrible! But he is not the first to arrest a pastor. Jesus was arrested and Jesus was doing what the people didn’t want Him to do and the Apostles did what they were not allowed to do. The Government said, ‘Don’t preach in this name anymore’. They went on preaching. Right?! They arrested them.

    :So it is not enough to say, well, if you do what the Government say not to do, then we have the power to arrest you. Arrest! That Pastor was not the first person to do what Government said don’t do. When I heard of it, I didn’t judge him because what if he was praying and that was the guidance he got?

    “Let me tell you, it is not everyone that will take some of the steps that we might take. Not everyone. The Holy Spirit knows exactly how He wants things done. It’s up to Him. What I’m always saying is that, anybody who assaults a pastor is in danger,” he said in one of his sermons, on Church Gist, a popular Facebook Christian page.

    According to Oyakhilome, “He is in more trouble than the Pastor. Pastors are not ordinary people. If you like you can call them ordinary men, that is up to you, but the Spirit that works with them, when that Spirit is fighting you, nobody can help you. No amount of prayer, no one can help you.

    “It is only people who say they are Christians that fight ministers of the gospel. Others when they know, they remove their hands, He is a pastor. They shift away, but the one that is a Christian is bold, he enters the church. So, if you are a pastor and they assault you. Don’t feel bad, you are not the first, don’t feel bad. But, for the rest pray for your pastors, remember to pray for them. Never condemn a pastor. Never. Don’t ever do it. Don’t do it. Don’t join those who do it. Don’t! Keep your mouth to yourself.”

  • Pastor remanded in prison for denying Coronavirus existence

    Pastor remanded in prison for denying Coronavirus existence

    Controversial pastor, Augustine Yiga, who allegedly denied the existence of the new coronavirus, has been charged and remanded in prison.

    The Ugandan Police said this on Monday.

    The prominent cleric is accused by prosecutors of telling his Revival Christian Church on Friday, in comments carried by local television stations, that there is “no coronavirus in Uganda and Africa”.

    “Pastor Yiga of the Revival Christian Church was charged and remanded in prison for doing acts likely to cause the spread of COVID-19,” said Uganda police spokesman Patrick Onyango.

    “Claiming that COVID-19 doesn’t exist in Africa and Uganda undermines government efforts in fighting the epidemic and exposes the public to great danger of laxity in observing the guidelines on its control and prevention,” he added.

    But the pastor’s lawyer, Wilberforce Kayiwa, said Yiga denied the charge of promoting the spread of the virus.

    The pastor faces a jail term of up to seven years.

    Yiga, who runs a church and television station, has a massive following and is known for holding controversial religious views and claiming prophetic powers.

    Uganda has so far reported 33 cases of the virus.

    Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged people to stay home but has stopped short of ordering a lockdown.

    Schools, places of entertainment and worship and some agricultural markets have been shut for a month and people have been banned from using public transport, and being more than three to a car, or one on a private motorbike.

  • Pastor tests positive for Coronavirus

    Pastor tests positive for Coronavirus

    A church community in Northern Virginia in the United States is told to self-quarantine after a pastor tested positive for the coronavirus.

    The pastor of a Fairfax County church tested positive for the coronavirus, according to statements from the Fairfax County Health Department and the church itself.

    Crossroads Baptist Church in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, announced its pastor tested positive for the respiratory disease, but that his condition has been steadily improving since first being hospitalized.

    “The doctor informed him today that his X-rays look better and he is improving,” the church said in a statement posted on its website Friday evening.

    The minister, who is in his 40s, first felt sick March 12, according to the health department. He then attended church services on March 15.

    The man was later hospitalized, the health department said in a statement.

    The health department is instructing people who attended Crossroads on March 15 to self-quarantine for 14 days, until March 29. Attendees should contact their health provider if they experience any symptoms.

  • Coronavirus: Stay at home, skip church if sick, Pastor warns members

    Coronavirus: Stay at home, skip church if sick, Pastor warns members

    Ahead of Sunday service (today), Andy Stanley, the pastor of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, Decatur City Church sent a letter to his congregants on Friday titled “Permission to stay home!”

    Stanley who made the statement amid growing concerns for the spread of the coronavirus, he’s asking anyone who has traveled to affected countries, been exposed to someone with the flu or who feels sick themselves to stay home from church.

    “If you’ve been exposed to a person with the coronavirus or the flu or have recently traveled to a CDC Level 2 or 3 country (China, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Hong Kong, or Japan), please take a couple of Sundays off. If you or your family members are experiencing or have recently experienced symptoms associated with the flu or the common cold (fever, persistent cough, headache, chills, or unexplained rash), we ask that you take a couple of Sundays off as well,” Stanley said in his email.

    He said the staff and volunteers are taking the following steps to make sure the churches are clean and safe for everyone who attends.

    -Staff and volunteers follow hand-washing procedures, and children are instructed to wash their hands after using the bathroom and before eating.
    -Volunteers follow posted safe and sanitary diaper-changing procedures.
    -Hand sanitizer is located throughout the building.Staff remove children from the classroom if they appear to be sick. Parents are immediately paged to pick them up.

    So far, nineteen people have died in the U.S. from the virus. The number of infections in the U.S. is now above 400.

  • Gunmen kidnap Catholic priest, pastor, 20 others

    Gunmen kidnap Catholic priest, pastor, 20 others

    Gunmen have gone on the rampage and abducted a Catholic priest, a pastor, three congregants, four lectures, 16 students and two school gatemen as well as a farmer in Benue, Niger, Edo and Ebonyi states.

    In Benue State, the gunmen kidnapped Rev. Father David Echioda, the Catholic Priest of Otukpo Diocese in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

    Also in Niger State, the gunmen believed to bandits abducted a pastor, Reverend Genesis Zaka, and three female members of Kauna Baptist Church, Danazunmi near Grigori in Rafi Local Government Area.

    The bandits also kidnapped five female students, a teacher and two gatemen in Niger State.

    Gunmen also kidnapped four lecturers and 11 students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) in Edo State.

    On Tuesday, herdsmen kidnapped a farmer, Cosmos Idam, at Amuzu Ezeke Amasiri in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

    While a combined team of policemen and vigilantes have been able to free the lecturers and students of UNIBEN, others, at press time, were still with their captors.

    Echioda, who hails from Oshugbudu in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, was abducted on his way from Untokon in Ado Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.

  • Gunmen kill pastor, 23 others, kidnap 3

    Gunmen kill pastor, 23 others, kidnap 3

    Gunmen killed 24 men, including a church pastor, and kidnapped three others on Sunday in Burkina Faso, an official said.

    It was the latest attack against the church and a religious leader in the increasingly unstable West African nation.

    Last week 18 people were killed when militants attacked the village of Bani. Two weeks earlier 39 people were killed in the village of Silgadji. And three weeks ago, 36 civilians were killed.

    The mayor of Boundore commune, Sihanri Osangola Brigadie, said the latest attack occurred in the town of Pansy in Yagha province. The roughly 20 attackers separated men from women close to a Protestant church. At least 10 other people were injured.

    “It hurt me when I saw the people,” Brigadie said after visiting some of the victims in the hospital in Dori town, 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the attack. The gunmen looted oil and rice from shops and forced the three youth they kidnapped to help transport it on their motorbikes, he said.

    Both Christians and Muslims were killed before the church was set on fire, said a government security official in Dori who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak to the media.

    Attacks have targeted religious leaders in the area in the past.

    Last week, also in Yagha province, a retired pastor was killed and another pastor was abducted by gunmen, according to an internal security report for aid workers seen by The Associated Press.

    Extremist violence has dramatically escalated in once-peaceful Burkina Faso.

    Analysts are concerned that attacks against civilians, including against Christians, are increasing “at an alarming rate,” said Corinne Dufka, West Africa director for Human Rights Watch. “Perpetrators use victims’ links to government or their faith to justify the killings, while others appear to be reprisal killings for killings by the government security forces,” she said.

    More than 1,300 civilians were killed in targeted attacks last year in Burkina Faso, more than seven times the previous year, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which collects and analyzes conflict information.

    The insecurity has created a humanitarian crisis. More than 760,000 people are internally displaced, according to the government.

  • Court returns Ondo pastor to prison over missing child

    Court returns Ondo pastor to prison over missing child

    The founder of the Sotitobire Praising Chapel, Akure, Alfa Babatunde, was not granted bail, on Thursday by the State High Court, sitting in Akure, the state capital.

    Hundreds of followers and worshippers of the church, who stormed the court premises to witness the court proceedings, and waited for his bail to be granted were disappointed as their pastor was taken back to the Olokuta Correctional Centre, Akure.

    The state High Court on Thursday began the hearing of Babatunde and six other defendants, who are standing trial over the disappearance of a one-year-old boy, Gold Kolawole, who was allegedly abducted in the church. The case was transferred from the magistrates’ court, which reportedly had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

    Kolawole was allegedly abducted during a Sunday service of the church by an unknown person in November last year and his whereabouts remained unknown till the present time.

    Consequently, the pastor and other defendants were arrested and arraigned before a magistrates’ court by the men of the state security service on six counts. They were later remanded in prison custody by the court.

    On the first hearing of the case at the High Court, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.

    Addressing the court, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs Bola Joel-Okudadegbe, asked the court for a short adjournment to enable her to prepare the seven witnesses listed for the case.

    Also, the counsel for the first defendant, Mr Olusola Oke, made efforts on the bail applications of the defendants, which was earlier filed on the matter but the DPP opposed the application on the grounds that there were many applications in that respect.

    After the arguments from the counsels, the trial judge, Justice Olusegun Odusoka, promised to give the case accelerated hearing and adjourned the matter till March, 16, 17 and 19, 2020 for further hearing. The defendants were later returned to prison custody.

  • Police arrest pastor over death of 20 members during rush for ‘anointing oil’

    Police arrest pastor over death of 20 members during rush for ‘anointing oil’

    The Tanzanian government has arrested Pastor Boniface Mwamposa after twenty people were killed and a dozen others injured in a stampede during a church meeting in the northern Tanzanian city of Moshi.

    He was arrested in Dar es Salaam, after he flew there to lead a prayer service at another branch of his church.

    The tragic stampede occurred overnight on Sunday when his church faithful were being ushered through an exit so that they could walk on “anointed oil,” according to a government spokesman.

    Interior Minister George Simbachawene confirmed Mwamposa’s arrest. The charges against him were not immediately revealed.