"I Know I Can't Make Heaven"- Pastor
Every profession has its own
hazards, the ultimate being death. The oldest profession in the world,
prostitution, is not an exception. But when death comes in a gory and gruesome
way, it brings sympathy and condemnation especially when perpetrated by persons
who ordinarily should preach against killing as a big offense before God
.
Commercial sex workers may not attract sympathy when they run into trouble with
their clients, but the manner Moses Mercy, an alleged prostitute based in
Ozuri, Kogi State, was said to have been raped by a pastor and three of his
church members to death and her body parts suspected to have been used for
money ritual is pathetic.
Principal suspect, Pastor Segun Otaru, and three
alleged accomplices, Abdulmumini Yakubu, Samuel Segun and Mike Stephen (at
large) of the Voice of Canaan Church, C and S, Ozuri in Adavi local government
area of Kogi State, were among ten persons accused of armed robbery, kidnapping
and other vices in Kogi State.
The pastor and suspected accomplices were
alleged to have raped the victim to death, removed her hands, legs as well as
the head and buried her body in the church. Two of the suspects, Mike Stephen
and Abdulmumuni Yakubu, after allegedly killing Mercy, had sex again with the
dead body before cutting the hands, legs and head which they roasted, mixed
with a lotion for Otaru to drink and rub on his body in order to get rich.
Kogi
State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP William Aya, confirmed the story,
saying the pastor, through a hotel attendant (name withheld) in Ozuri, had
lured the alleged sex workers, an indigene of Benue State, from a hotel to his
house where they carried out the act. Three days after, and Mercy had yet to
return to the hotel, the attendant became apprehensive and called them, only to
be frustrated by their response.
The attendant, apparently disturbed by the
situation, reported to the police in Adavi. But sensing that the police in
Adavi were foot dragging, he took the matter to the police headquarters in
Lokoja who swung into action and arrested the three suspects, with one still at
large
. Reports gathered that the victim hardly engaged in ‘home
service’ but a decline in patronage for a longer time following the adverse
economic situation in the country changed her position. She honoured the
invitation only to meet her untimely death.
The pastor and suspected
accomplices confessed to the crime which they blamed on poverty. Otaru told
Sunday Vanguard that they got tired of their low life and decided to help
themselves to the ritual suggestion brought by one of them who said he learned
it while staying in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
On the idea of having sex with
Mercy’s body, Yakubu, who said they believed sleeping with a dead lady will
save them from vehicular accident, said the sex act felt the same with a live
woman. The police said they had launched a manhunt for the fourth suspect, Mike
Stephen.
Targeting N2.5m in third money ritual Every day is for the thief but
one day is for the owner goes a popular Yoruba adage. This time, the one day is
for the police. Otaru claimed the Mercy case was the third time he would engage
in money ritual as the two previous attempts failed.
According to the
45-year-old, he exhumed corpses from a cemetery in the two failed attempts and
cut the needed parts for the ritual but money did not come. He said he expected
to make at least N2.5 million from the latest attempt which led to the murder
of Mercy. The principal suspect explained that he connived with the three
suspects, who he described as members of his church, to commit the crime.
Otaru
said it was the quest to get rich quick that made him to venture into money
ritual as he could not wait for God’s time to be rich. The pastor, however,
said he knew that what he did was against the preaching in christianity and the
Word of God and he would not enter the Kingdom of God.
The disappearance of
Mercy from the hotel where she used to ply her trade, for more than three days,
had raised the suspicion of a hotel attendant. Two of the suspects, Oluwasegun
Samuel and Abdulmumini Yakubu, had gone to the hotel in Adavi to pick the
deceased and took her away. Unfortunately for the suspects, they left their
telephone numbers with the hotel attendant through which they were contacted
when the lady did not return.
The PPRO said the two suspects were first arrested
and that, after interrogation by the homicide detectives of the State Criminal
Investigation Department (CID), confessed to the gory details of how they were
allegedly hired by the principal suspect (pastor) to get a lady for money
ritual with a promise to pay them N700, 000.
The arrested suspects thereafter
led the police to Uhodo, also in Adavi council area, where the remains of Mercy
were buried in a shallow grave and it was discovered that vital organs and head
of the victim had been removed.
I exposed our gang because I was cheated
Robbery/kidnap suspect Also arrested by the Kogi police were suspected robbers
and kidnappers, Ubile Attah, Julius Alhassan, Akuh Audu, Shehu Haliru, Onuche
James, Amidu Yakubu and Abdul Tijani, who allegedly killed an inspector of
police, simply identified as Mohammed in the state, last November.
The suspects
were said to have been arrested in the eastern flank of the state with the AK
47 rifle of the deceased police officer. One of the suspects, Atah, who claimed
to be 15, said he leaked the secret of the gang because he was short-changed in
the sharing of the proceeds of their alleged criminal activities.
According to
him, after attacking Ejule police post and killed the police officer, the gang
also killed three members of the local vigilante and a civilian. He said they
had been using the police inspector’s gun for robbery and kidnapping operations
in Igala land.
The suspect, however, said he decided to spill the beans
following the refusal of the other members of the gang that were older than him
to give him his own share of the money they collected from their victims.
According to him, he had complained several times about the action of his
colleagues but when they continued to cheat him he had no option than to expose
them.
The Kogi police spokesperson confirmed that the suspects were arrested
with the AK47 rifle of the slain officer. He alleged that the suspects had been
terrorising the people of Ejule, Ugwolawo and environment, adding that they
were apprehended by men of the IGP Special Tactical Squad (STS).
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/know-will-not-make-heaven-pastor-accused-rape-murder-prostitute/
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/know-will-not-make-heaven-pastor-accused-rape-murder-prostitute/
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