A pastor in charge of Life and Power Bible Church, Ogijo, Ikorodu, Lagos, Mathew Oladapo, is currently in police custody for raping a 19-year-old member of the church during a deliverance session.
The victim reported him at the Ogijo police division after the sexual assault. She told the police that the pastor told her on February 20 that he saw a vision that she had a ‘spiritual husband’ from which she would need urgent deliverance.
The cleric reportedly told the woman she would need three nights of fasting and prayer to be observed in the church for total deliverance.
The victim said the man asked her to come to the church with N1,000 note and a bottle of anointing oil.
Ogun Police Command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, told newsmen on Wednesday that, “on the first night of the fasting and prayer, the woman was taken to a room within the church where the pastor ordered her to pull off her clothes and undies and lie down on a piece of cloth on the floor which she obeyed.”
“While lying on the floor, the pastor started rubbing the anointing oil on her body and inserted his finger into her private parts.
“When she protested, the pastor pinned her down, covered her mouth and forcefully had sex with her with the claim that it was the only way to break the bond between her and the spirit husband.”
The DPO of Ogijo division, CSP Onatufe Umoh was said to have detailed detectives to the scene, where the pastor was arrested.
The police spokesperson said the suspect had confessed to the crime claiming to have been overwhelmed by a spirit.
Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole had ordered the transfer of the suspect to the Anti-human Trafficking and Child Labour Unit of the State CIID, Eleweran, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, for further investigation and prosecution.
