Fake Bishop, Prophet Arrested After Foiled Kidnap

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A foiled kidnap attempt on the proprietress of Shammar Children’s School, Udu Road, near Sedeco area in Udu, Mrs. Onyi Ikemefuna and a pupil, has led to the arrest of two men, suspected to be fake pastors, by the the Delta State Police in Warri.

Anslem claimed to be the “Bishop” of a Pentecostal church in Warri, while the other, Joseph, said he was a prophet.

The suspects were, yesterday taken to the church allegedly run by the “bishop” for a search of the premises.

“Luck ran out of the duo when the proprietress, who initially reported the kidnap attempt on her, petitioned the Area Commander, Warri, alleging that the police at Enerhen Division collected N2 million bribe to pervert justice.”

In the petition by her lawyer, Mr A.E. Efole, dated May 20, 2013, Ikemefuna said that the fake prophet, who claimed to be working for the “bishop” was apprehended in her school when he came to kidnap a pupil in her school under the guise of coming to give prophecy to her.

“On May 15, 2013, at about 9.45 am, one of the suspects, Joseph, came to our client’s school and introduced himself to one of the administrative staff as a man of God from Voice of God Prayer Ministry, 40, Peter Odili Road, off Trans-Amadi Slaughter Abuluma, Port Harcourt and requested to see the victim. The administrative staff said the victim was not around.

“Consequent upon that, the suspect became agitated, which made the administrative staff to corner him into a privacy to know why he was in that mood and he confided in her that two of the victim’s staff are planning to kidnap her, which they attempted the day the victim travelled with all the school people, but that the plan was foiled due to God’s intervention.

“The supposed man of God also revealed to the administrative staff that the victim would find herself in a big predicament due to jealousy by others. He was entreated to wait, but he insisted he has to return to Port Harcourt that same hour but that he could drop his phone number.

“When the victim returned at about 11.00am, the whole episode was narrated to her and she opted for the phone number and got in touch with Joseph who eventually agreed to return from Port-Harcourt since he was already there with the understanding that the victim would foot the bill.

“To the consternation of the victim, within an hour after the last conversation with him, Joseph called to say he was already from Port-Harcourt and was at Enerhen Junction and that he wants to see the victim privately and when coming out from her office, she should be with a little child to make the prophecy more efficacious.”

“The victim having assured him of the privacy he opted for, yet would not see him, she came out and saw a Toyota Camry car light brown in colour facing Udu Road with some one in the driver’s seat and another occupant at the back right hand side of the car and called his line but he refused to pick.

“Nevertheless, after a while, the victim saw a young light complexioned man with a Bible in his arm whom she eventually ascertained to be Joseph. Joseph became very uneasy due to the victim’s hot interrogation, which made her furious, hence she raised alarm and at that point, the standby car sped off.”

“Consequent upon this, Joseph became afraid and he agreed to confess if only he would be allowed to go and the police not invited and the victim agreed. He started saying that it was a bishop whose church is along DSC Express Way on the Ovwian Express that sent him to come and kidnap her and a female pupil for ritual for the expansion and growth of his church, while money would be extracted from the victim’s family as ransom.

“At this, the victim decided to call Enerhen police and Joseph repeated same confession before he was taken away,” the lawyer stated.

After the arrest of Joseph by the police at Enerhen, the “bishop” was invited, but he maintained the suspect was a mad man who goes about blackmailing him, and a woman who claimed to be Joseph’s mother was allegedly brought to corroborate the lunacy story, sources said.

He added, “After some days, Joseph was let off the hook by men of the Enerhen Police with conclusion that the victim was mentally deranged, a situation, which made the victim to petition the Warri Area Command that the Enerhen Police has compromised after allegedly collecting N2million.”

A police source who crave anonymity said, “Since the arrest of the “bishop” on Wednesday evening, some influential persons have been mounting pressure on the Area Commander, and our boss had to switch off his phones at a time.”