A ‘pastor’, identified as Adeniyi Johnson was arrested on Wednesday
evening at Ijomu area of Akure, the Ondo State capital for being in
possession of fried meat suspected to be human parts.
The suspect who claimed to be a pastor of a Pentecostal church said he
was posted to the branch of the church at Ipogun town in Ifedore Local
Government Area of the state.
According to an eyewitness, the pastor went to the busy Ijomu street and
brought out pieces of fried meat from his bag and put them in a tray
and started begging people to join him and eat from the meat.
His bizzare action was said to have attracted spectators who suspected the meat to be human parts meant for ritual purposes.
“The people in the area quickly gathered to lynch him because they also
found some other fetish items inside his bag but security agents rescued
him and took him to the palace of the Akure monarch for interrogation,”
an eyewitness said.
Some of the other fetish items allegedly found in his bag were a feather and dead birds.
Facing the interrogation of the chiefs at the palace, the suspect said
he got involved in the ritual to save the life of his child, who had
been ill for sometime, adding that his action was not aimed at harming
the people who ate from the meat.
He said, “I am a pastor of the Living Faith Church, I am not a bad
person. I did this because my child is sick. I did not force anybody to
eat the meat.
“I have an instruction from God to prepare the meat for people, and
nobody has eaten from it. If anybody refuses to eat of the meat, I have
been instructed not to fight anybody about it.”
Shortly after, he was handed over to the policemen who whisked him away
to the Area Command headquarters in Akure for further interrogation.
However, a pastor of the Winners Chapel, in the town, on condition of
anonymity, said Johnson had been sacked as a pastor of the church when
he started showing some signs of insanity, to enable his family to take
care of him.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ondo Police Command, Mr. Femi
Joseph, was not available for comment but a senior officer who did not
want his name in the print said some pastors from the church had visited
the police station to attest that Johnson had a mental problem.
He said the suspect would still be in the police custody till the time
his family would present the medical record on his mental state.
