Detectives from Area command in Warri, Delta state have arrested Bishop Elijah Orhonigbe, the founder and overseer of The Victory Revival fasting and Prayer Ministry, for allegedly raping a nineteen-year-old-girl (name withheld).
The said Bishop was arrested on 5th June 2020 been Friday InfoXclusivemedia Reports.
The suspect is currently in “A” Division Police Cell cooling his heels off.
The arrest was confirmed by Warri Area Commander of the Nigeria Police, ACP Mohammed Muktar Garba, in a Chat with the newsmen.
The arrest was followed after the complaint of the Victim’s mother at the police station.
According to Muktar Garba, “She said the pastor had a dream that death was hovering in their house and for peace to reign, she should bring her daughter, Miracle for prayers (deliverance).”
“The woman brought the lady to the church pastor. I think what really happened is that the pastor drugged that lady and raped her. I personally took the lady to the hospital because she was in a coma for two(2) days.
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“We were looking for this pastor for the past three weeks. We later traced him to where he was hiding, and I got him arrested, and we are charging him to court now. This is somebody that I arrested since Friday. He has been in the cell since Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today-Monday. I am charging him to court.”
“We have pictures. We have examined the Victim. I took her to the doctor. He has examined her private parts, and we have everything to charge this man to court.”
In his words,” I did not demand a dime from him, and I will not collect money from him. He must face the wrath of the law.”
In a swift reaction, the suspect, Bishop Elijah Orhonigbe, denied the allegations leveled against him.
The cleric who spoke with newsmen on his way out of the Police Station to the court said, “I did not rape her.”
According to the suspect’s Bishop Orhonigbe, “She came to church on that faithful day, 20th May. The mother brought her to the church for deliverance, and I prayed for her in front of the altar in the presence of three people. Immediately after the prayer, she left the church. That was around 12. She came back 5 ‘o’clock with policemen and some crowd, saying ‘this is the man.’ I did not rape her.”
Narrating her ordeal before newsmen, the Victim, a nineteen-year-old girl (names withheld) said she was a member of the church when she was younger but stopped at a time.
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She said the suspect saw a vision and asked her mother to bring her for deliverance.
The Victim pointed out that the cleric said she (Victim) slept with a suspected internet fraudster (Yahoo Boy) and that they cleaned her up with a handkerchief to use her for ritual.
The Victim claimed that the cleric gave her olive oil to insert in her private part just as he also gave her more to drink before asking her to strip naked and lie down on a mat in the church with the sliding windows and doors closed.
“He started having sex with me through the back. That was all I could remember. There was sperm all over my body. I shouted. He even said I should come again.”
The Victim demanded justice, saying, “I want to be the last he will do this to.”
Mother of the Victim, Mrs. Taye Edema, corroborated the claims of her daughter just as she demanded that justice should prevail on the matter.
“They didn’t give me a dime. I don’t want to collect any money. I want justice.”
A human rights activist, Comrade Israel Joe insisted that justice must prevail on the matter.
Joe said,” We are fighting against Antichrist, not the body of Christ.
“So, we stand for justice. We want justice to be done. Rape is a criminal offense, and our law and society have criminalized it.
The Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Hafiz Inuwa, confirmed the arrest of the Bishop in a telephone chat with the infoXclusivemedia Team in Warri.
CP Inuwa said, “Yes, I am aware, even though I’m out of the state for official duty. The Area Commander has fully briefed me.
”It’s a case of rape in which the Bishop drugged the girl and raped her in the name of deliverance.”
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Lawyer to the Victim’s family, Prince Clem Ade Omotoye, Esq, condemned the act in all ramifications, saying,” We are ready to follow the matter to its logical conclusion.
