The Cross River State Police Command on Tuesday, paraded a suspected fake pastor alongside six others for allegedly killing a one year and six months old baby for ritual purposes.A church pastor identified as Tony Obo-Ekpeyong, who allegedly broke a home alongside six others and abducted a woman’s 18-month old baby girl who he allegedly used for rituals, has been apprehended and arraigned by the Nigerian Police.
While speaking to correspondents at the headquarters of the Cross River State Command in Calabar on Tuesday, the 20-year-old mother of the baby, Faith Inyang, on Tuesday, said her baby was stolen at about 3am on August 24 by masked men whom she said she was able to identify.
She said she was able to identify the pastor who oversees the Royal God’s Commandment Ministry, because he and the other alleged assailants lived in the same neighbourhood as her.
She said, “When they broke into our house, we pleaded with them not to hurt us. They came in with machetes and they used it on me and my cousin before taking my child away. I recognised one of the men because of his stature; he lived around our area and he normally passed through our house.
“When they left, we came out and started shouting for help and some men in the area came out and trailed them to the church. Everything became clear in the morning and the Police came in and arrested them. Up till now, I have not seen the body of my daughter, apart from the heart that was found there.”
The state Police Command spokesperson, ASP Irene Ugbo, who spoke while parading the pastor and six others for allegedly killing the little baby and also for allegedly being in possession of what was suspected to be her heart, said the pastor was arrested alongside six others on Thursday, August 24, by men of the command.
Ugbo explained that the suspects were arrested when the parents of the child raised the alarm that their child had been abducted by masked men who broke into their house.
According to the ASP, the Police immediately swung into action, searched the church surroundings and found some ‘incriminating items’ and thereafter arrested the pastor and six others.
Meanwhile, the suspect, Pastor Obo-Ekpeyong, denied the allegations, saying that he did not kill the child for any ritual purpose.
“I was praying for one of our members who was sick when the Police came and arrested me. The heart they saw was that of a fowl. We don’t operate any spiritual shrine in the church.
“The thick blood that was seen on the altar was that of a goat and fowl that we killed to celebrate with members after our three-day fasting programme in the church,” Obo-Ekpeyong said.