A cleric identified as Uchenna Joseph has been nabbed by officers of the Ilisan Remo Police Division over reports that he tried to use his prophetess wife for ritual purposes. Vanguard reports that the woman, Patience Ohelimo, from Abakaliki in Ebonyi State, accused Pastor Joseph of conniving with some unknown persons to torture, gang-rape and attempt to sacrifice her for ritual purpose. The woman who is presently being rehabilitated at a private clinic in Ogun State said the incident took place in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, where she had gone from her Ikorodu abode after agreeing to marry the man. “I was a petty trader in Ikorodu town in Lagos before my plans to get married, while my husband was a full-time pastor. “We were to have our wedding introduction in 2014 and were planning for a church wedding when I got pregnant, which put the wedding plans on hold.
“In the course of our relationship, I expended all my earnings but this was not in vain as I gave birth to a boy in February 2016.
“Three months after, my husband suggested we should visit his friend in Port Harcourt to raise fund for my business. So we left our base in Ogun State and during our three months stay, I became a prophetess and also assisted in evangelism, but on one fateful day, my husband conspired with his friends to sacrifice me for ritual purposes. “My refusal earned me incarceration as they tortured and gang-raped me. This took place for a number of days until I reached my sister through a text message and she came to my rescue.
“They separated me from my son and were about tying me to the ceiling fan when my sister arrived the one-room church. My wedding gown and other items were kept for two years as he is yet to complete the dowry.
“I have spent all my earnings on this marriage which has almost cost me my life and I will never return to that home,” Mrs Joseph was quoted to have said. While denying the allegations by his wife, the cleric stated that she has been psychologically unwell since they relocated to Rivers State. He explained: “She used to see visions and loved evangelism but one day, she was on evangelism field with my friend’s relative when she was spiritually attacked and she started exhibiting strange behaviour.
“But my mistake was that I did not inform her parents believing it was a minor issue until she became violent and we had to seek spiritual help by inviting some pastors to conduct deliverance for her.
“She however sent a message to her elder sister and I was misunderstood. The scars on her body were as a result of the violent situation she found herself.
“How can I connive with others to kill the mother of my baby? Her family was just being harsh on me for failure to complete the dowry because out of N100,000, I only paid N40,000.” Although he was initially arrested, he has been granted bail while the police officers continue with their investigations into the matter. Recently, a 38-year-old man named Wole Oke was arrested alongside a 30-year-old Wasiu Adesina, for crimes bordering on murder and money ritual activities. The Ogun state police command says it has apprehended Wole and his friend for being in possession of human parts. Vanguard reports that the duo were arrested at Ijebu, Idi-aro area of Abeokuta while policemen attached to Oke Itoku Division, led by the DPO, CSP Abeni Farinre, were on patrol. The Police Public Relations in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement, said the suspects took to their heels with a leather bag on sighting policemen and they were hotly chased and arrested.
