•Remanded for having sex with male church members
The Founder and General Overseer of a Pentecostal Church in Benin City,
Pastor Phillip Ogbebor is now an unusual inmate at the federal medium
security prison, Oko after a magistrate court ordered that he be remanded for having sex with male members of his Church.
Surprisingly, the randy pastor of Breakthrough Ministries, Owina
Street, off Sakponba road Benin city, neither denied the allegation of
homosexuality levelled against him by the parents of one of his victims
nor blamed the devil as many culprits will do. Instead, he told
Saturday Sun that “I am only passing through temptation. I only did it
four times with the man who is 22 years old and a regular member of my
church. I can’t claim that it was the devil’s influence , let God
decide my case.”
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Foluso Ayodeji
Adebanjo told Saturday Sun that the Pastor was apprehended recently by
men of the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Edo state
police command following a complaint lodged by the father of one of his
victims. Trouble started when the victim who had been put under an oath
of secrecy by the pastor decided to report his ordeal to his parents
who in turn decided to inform the police.
The victim who doesn’t
want his name in print told Saturday Sun that he has been unduly
harassed by Pastor Ogbebor since 2007 when he was only fifteen years
old and that he made him to take several oaths of secrecy in order not
to reveal the secret to anybody.
He further said that the suspect threatened to kill him if he disclosed the act to anyone.
According to him, “each time, I told him it is painful and that I
don’t want to do it again. I told him I will tell my parents but he
forced me to take oath saying if I ever tell anyone I will not live to
see the next day”
He furthered revealed how Ogbebor mixed olive
oil with sand and robbed it on his head while chanting incantations in
an unusual language and casting spells on him, with an emphasis on the
fact that if he tells anybody he would die like a fowl. He said to
buttress his threat he gave him the liver and gizzard of chicken to eat
saying these acts were usually performed at 12.00 midnight under the
guise of a night vigil.
The victim who said he is a regular member
of Pastor Ogbebor’s church said he was disturbed by his deteriorating
health and was forced to narrate his ordeal to another pastor.
He
said the man of God advised him to report the bad conduct of Pastor
Ogbebor before the congregation which he did but Ogbebor was said to
have denied it before the congregation. After the confession by the
victim to the congregation, his father who is also a member of the
church promptly confronted Pastor Ogbebor on the matter and as the
issue was degenerating into rowdiness in the church, Pastor Ogbebor
was said to have confessed to the crime and pledged to take the victim
who has been battling with spiritual and health challenges to the
hospital for medical treatment.
It was at that stage that the father
of the victim who was in shock over the development reported the
matter to the police for proper investigation.
Speaking to Saturday
Sun, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Foluso Ayodeji Adebanjo
commended the SCID Benin under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner
of Police J. Ibim for a good job done.
He sai d the suspect will soon be charged to court after the completion of investigation.
The police boss had about three weeks ago paraded Pastor Ogbebor along
with 25 other crime suspects at the command headquarters, Benin city.
Saturday Sun however gathered that the 42 year old randy pastor has
been arraigned before a Magistrate court in Benin city on a charge
bordering on indecent assault contrary to Sections 214(1) and 353 of
the constitution respectively.
The Magistrate was said to have
ordered his detention at the Oko medium security prison in the state
capital pending the commencement of trial.
Source: Sun
