Police nab pastor for N310k heaven ticket scam, abduction of 9 individuals
The controversial leader of Christ High Commission Church, Araromi-Ugbesi in Omuo-Oke, Ekiti State, Noah Abraham, previously in the spotlight for allegedly collecting three hundred and ten thousand Naira from congregants as a supposed ticket to heaven, has been re-arrested for more serious offenses.
In a fresh development, the contentious pastor was apprehended by the Ekiti State Police Command in conjunction with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for the purported abduction of over nine individuals, including minors, and for impregnating the wife of his choir coordinator.
Reports indicate that some of the captives were children of his parishioners, whom he allegedly manipulated, indoctrinated, and turned against their own parents.
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Detailing their harrowing experiences, the parents of the captive children, members of the church, and even Pastor Abraham’s legal wife, who staged a protest at the Ekiti State Police Command, appealed to the government and relevant authorities for assistance in freeing their children, spouse, and relatives from the clutches of the pastor.
According to their accounts, Pastor Abraham coerced their children into leaving school, while a 27-year-old man who was gainfully employed in a undisclosed company and provided with an official vehicle was instructed to resign and then kept in confinement without a definite purpose.
In a statement to the media, the choir coordinator of the church, Mr. Dare Ikuenayo, affirmed that the pastor had indeed absconded with and impregnated the mother of his three children.
He said: “I joined the church in Kabba, Kogi State but one day, the pastor called me and notified me that my wife had a gift of prophesy that I should allow her to stay with him for a month and work for God which I oblige.
“But suddenly I noticed that my wife was not even willing to see or talk to me. While I was trying to raise eyebrows, the pastor announced in the church that he had taken my wife and no one could take her from him.
“I tried my best but all to no avail until he impregnated her and moved her into his house fully.”
In her testimony, the wife of the pastor, Mrs Mary Abraham said after they came together to Omuo-Ekiti for the aborted heavenly mission, her husband came in one night and asked her to move out because he wanted the wife of the choir coordinator to move in.
According to her, “He said the present work in his hand requires the woman to be with him and that was how he forced me out and denied me access to my three children.
“He withdrew all of my children from school, and made their lives miserable, I wept when I saw my son yesterday after the police brought him here. I am begging Nigerians to help me take my children from him.”
Similarly, one of the pastors working under Abraham, said his son, who was already working in a reputable institution was asked to resign and held hostage.
The Pastor said, “Even when I logged in complaint at the police station, I was offered access to two of my three children but on our way home he called them and asked them to run back which they did.
“He is always telling us that we have different curses and evil spirits working against us, he would ask us to sell our property and bring the money to him. I have invested almost 7 million in the church, I am left with nothing. Even my children don’t want to see me, I don’t know what he did to them.”
Another old woman who is the elder sister to Pastor Abraham alleged that he took almost a million naira from her on different occasions on the account that he wanted to cleanse her of evil spirits.
It was also gathered that there are many other complaints against Pastor Abraham with different stories too elaborate and sensitive for media publication.
Reacting, Pastor Abraham said the heaven ticket saga was his first assignment, saying he was done with what God had sent him to earth to do and he was ready to go back to his creator.
He said he was fulfilled because he had concluded his assignments as directed by God while declining to give any reason for his actions.
Meanwhile, the wife of the coordinator whom the founder impregnated is still at large.
In a chat with journalists, the spokesman for the Ekiti State Police Command, DSP, Sunday Abutu said the investigation is ongoing in collaboration with NAPTIP, saying the police would revert to the next line of action.
Recall that Pastor Abraham was arrested on the 27th of April, 2022 in Omuo-Ekiti after he converged over forty persons in a camp and collected the sum of three hundred and ten thousand Naira from each of them as a ticket fee to heaven but was granted bail at a Magistrate court.