Detectives investigating recent allegations of
abduction against a Lagos based woman,
Rosemary Chukwu, were recently jolted when
the prime suspect named another pastor as
the mastermind of the abduction.
The mother of four who earlier named an
Ikorodu based Pastor and General Overseer of
Holy Family Ministry, Ernest Chukwuemeka
Nwankwo, as the man that instructed her to
bring a seven-year-old boy for ritual purposes,
reportedly named another Ikorodu- based
pastor as the man that actually instructed her
to abduct the boy.
Police sources at the State Criminal
Investigations Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba
intimated Crime Guard that the revelation has
actually confirmed the unstable mental state
of the woman but stated that the police were
poised to get to the root of the matter whether
she was mentally stable or not. According to
the source, the state police boss, Umaru
Manko “directed us to get to the root of the
case and deal decisively with whoever is found
culpable no matter how highly or lowly placed
and this is what we are doing.”
It was gathered that the directive from the
police boss influenced the medical test carried
out on the woman. The result showed that the
woman was mentally deranged. Briefing
newsmen recently on the out come of the
report, the command spokeswoman, Ngozi
Braide stated: “ Reports that a building owned
by the church was a den for ritual killing were
all lies.
No victim of kidnap was rescued and no
human bone was recovered at the location as
reported in some sections of the media. The
report that kidnap victims were rescued were
all wrong. Family members of the purported
kidnapped victims said they brought their
relatives to the ministry for healing. We had to
clarify as a lot of misinformation had been
sent across.”
Presently, detectives are said to have spread
their dragnet with a view to arresting the new
pastor that was named. However, it was learnt
that their efforts were not yielding fruitful
results as the pastor seem to have
disappeared to an unknown place. All his
telephone numbers are also said to have been
switched off thus making it extremely difficult
for detectives to trace his whereabouts.
Worse still, it was learnt that efforts to also
trace the whereabouts of the woman’s
children have so far proved abortive. The
children were reportedly driven out in an
exotic SUV soon after the woman was arrested
by an angry mob for abducting a boy.
The suspect reportedly mentioned one Mr.
Ekene , a patent chemist shop owner at
Ikorodu as one that could possibly be with her
children, but the man turned up at the police
station and denied her completely. She then
gave one fictitious address again at Ikorodu
as where her sister resided saying that she
could be with her children. The police went
there only to be told that no such person
resided there. She then gave her husband’s
name as one Mr. Henry Chukwu, who has
owned up over phone conversation to be with
the children but vouched vehemently never to
report to the police except his corpse,
because, according to him, there’s no way
he’ll ever set his foot there.
When Crime Guard visited the church whose
pastor was earlier mentioned by the woman at
their Ikorodu base, debris of the massive
destruction carried out by an angry mob that
raided the church were seen littered all over
the place. The destruction was so severe that
even wires were cut into pieces. A tour of the
building did not reveal any hidden tunnel as
alleged by the mob that descended on the
church and its pastor on the fateful day.
Some of the mentally deranged people who
were reported to be kidnap victims were also
seen in chains with their relatives.
The wife of one of the deranged persons,
Madam Rose Onwurah Okeke, who narrated
their plight since the ugly incident took place
lamented that her dear husband who came for
spiritual succour has been abandoned.
According to the 48-year-old farmer from
Nando in Anambra State; we came to the
church in this year to find cure to the
depression that afflicted my husband. This
started in 1983 and we have gone to many
places and spiritual homes for cure without
success.
At times, he would recover only to relapse
later. His sickness led to the death of his
mother and even my own parents suffered
while we were searching for his cure until they
died too. My husbands name is Onwurah
Joseph Okeke. He was a commercial driver.
We have four children. One of his uncles,
Joseph Atuanya brought us to this church for
his treatment.
He said that they cure mentally deranged
people. After we came, he surprisingly started
recovering from the sickness to the extent that
we were looking forward to when to go home.
Unfortunately, after the attack by a group of
people, the madness came back again
because we have not been praying and the
shock may have contributed to it.
Since I came here, I have not seen any ritual
thing, all we do is to pray 24 hours of the day.
We have not paid even a kobo since we came.
Rather, they have been feeding and caring for
us. We have many mentally deranged people
here but some of them were released by the
angry mob that invaded this place that day.
That day was like hell on earth.
We were in the middle of ministering when a
group of people, armed with dangerous
weapons broke into the church and started
beating and manhandling everybody, both
men, women and children. They said a woman
had pointed at this place as a den for ritual
killing.
They broke into the office of the prophet and
descended on him. Some of us rushed to
inner rooms to hide but they forced us all out,
insisting that we should pay them some
money or they would kill us. Some parted
with their money but they still subjected them
to serious beating. When they saw the mad
people that were chained, they broke the
chains and forced them out of the compound.
They even searched pockets of the mad people
to see whether they could get money.
Many people were seriously wounded. They
also raped the young girls in our midst. I saw
hell.
Neighbours who spoke with Crime Guard also
revealed no less resentment over the invasion
of the ministry. One of them who simply
identified himself as Maurufu said, “We
witnessed all the atrocities committed by the
angry mob that fateful day. It was as if they
were sent by an enemy.
The destruction was unimaginable. Some area
boys in this vicinity also joined the mad
crowd. I saw them around here but they had
disappeared when some police men came here
to look for them. We even heard that Some of
them started suffering from mysterious
ailments and so far, two have died. This is not
hearsay, I know their families and I can
confirm that fear has gripped all those people
that took part in the invasion of the church.”
Another neighbour that also sought anonymity
told Crime Guard, “ Some people that stole
from the church that day have started
returning their loot. They come at the night
when nobody can identify them. The biggest
puzzle now is the real identity of the woman.
We used to see her here but after sometime,
she disappeared. Some people said she was in
a choir group in one ministry at Ogolonto area
of Ikorodu.
Where is this woman from and who are her
relatives? Can’t anybody come forward to the
police and offer useful information? Why are
they all disowning her?, If she is very well
known at that other church as a ministering
pastor, then let the pastor or their church
members come forward with some useful
information rather than run away if they are
very sure of themselves.
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