Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta
Police have paraded Pastor Chidi Samuel Ejiogu and his assistant, Paul Zakari; over the mysterious death of a 20-year-old girl, Favour Okumazor, who is a member of their fellowship, Life Builders Network, founded in 2018.
Chidi was said to have led Favour and some members of the fellowship to a remote location in Oyan village in Ogun State on October 2, 2021 without the consent of her family for what he termed ‘Bible study.’
While the programme progressed in the isolated village, a wave of strange ailments struck them with everyone of the participants reporting one form of illness or the other. Favour was said to have had bouts of stooling and vomiting, and for lack of first aide or accessible healthcare facility, she passed away in the night and was buried immediately in the strange village without her family being notified.
A survivor who fled the weird Bible Study retreat in the said far-flung village reported the experience to the Police and also led detectives to the location where Pastor Chidi and his assistant were arrested.
The Police Commissioner in the state, Lanre Bankole, who paraded the two pastors before newsmen at State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, said detectives were still conducting investigation on the remains of the late Favour Okumazor.
In an interview with our reporter, Chidi attributed their experience to “spiritual attack,” stressing that he had thought he could use “faith” to deliver and heal the afflicted members when one day – three of the retreat, he observed that they were all down with “strange illnesses.”
According to him, he regretted not seeking medical help to address the health emergency instead of resorting to “prayer and faith.”
He also regretted burying Favour in the remote village without informing her parents.
“Since this fellowship started in 2018 nothing of such has been recorded.
“All of us were struck down by an unknown sickness, even myself, we did not know what happened, we realised one morning when we woke up that she was dead. We did not know what to do, so, we had to bury her. We are very sorry and we apologise to her parents for not seeking their consent before buring her that was the mistake we made,” Chidi said.
Also, CP Bankole also paraded one Saheed Ogundahun who shot and killed a herdsman, Zandi Abu, while grazing cattle and buried him in a shallow grave.
Saheed who is a hunter confessed that he killed the herdsman and buried him and later informed the police of the location the corpse was interred.
The police eventually exhumed the body and evacuated it to the mutuary for autopsy.
Zhandi was reported missing on 12th of March but found dead three days later in the bush.
Alhaji Nature Umaru who heard the sound of the gunshot while Zandi was murdered hurriedly went to the police to report the case so that the victim could be apprehended.