Rape In Church: The devil used me – Bishop

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

MANY found it hard to believe. They made calls to confirm if those  close to the bishop had heard the story.

But the  ‘man of God’ himself told the story before journalists at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

[caption id="attachment_402433" align="alignright" width="318"] Bishop Chibuike Nwabueze[/caption]

Bishop Chibuike Nwabueze narrated the story of how he allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl after ministering at Calvary Army Ministry, Rumuoji Eneka in Obio Akpor local government area of Rivers state.

He blamed it on the devil and also accused his host as the one who set him up. According to the cleric, after he finished ministering, he retired to rest. The girl later came for deliverance.

He said that while he was pleading the blood of Jesus on the little girl, she started removing her dress. Before he could restrain her, he said he found himself on top of her.

“But to my greatest surprise, I was surprised when I saw her pulling off her blouse and skirt. But, before I knew it, I had a carnal knowledge of her. That is the truth of the matter.”

His head suddenly dropped after the confession, then went up again; this time he said anybody could have fallen for it.

According to him, when he realised he had sinned against God, he called some junior pastors to tell them what he had done to pray for him.

Nwabueze said he took a second look at the little girl who probably was still lying nude and waiting for a second round and what he saw pissed him off.

“She started laughing at me. She said ‘are you angry?’ I told her that I did not know she had hypnotised me. She said I should not bother,” the bishop said.

“I was so angry and annoyed that I called some of my pastors and made a confession, that I did not know what was happening.”

Nwabueze said it was not true that he raped the girl, stressing that it was a consensual act. He also dismissed the  allegation that he later procured abortion for the girl when the father called to inform him that she was pregnant.  According to him, it was the girl’s father that did it but he paid the bills.

The bishop maintained that the pastor of the church where he went to preach set him up and he fell for it.

“We have different Colleges of Bishops. I am the Chairman of  the Communion of Bishops in Rivers State. Well, what actually happened was a set up. It was set-up by my enemies. I have so many people who are my enemies. The man in-charge of where I went to minister is my enemy. He is the person that set me up,” he stated.

“He invited me to his church for a programme, claiming  to be my friend. After the programme, he set me up because of  the tussle over the chairmanship of the communion.”

Meanwhile, the police have advised Christians to be vigilant and ask the right questions sometimes on the actions of some pastors. This way the police said, Christians could different between true and fake pastors.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of  Rivers SCID, Mr Samuel Okaula, who paraded the bishop and a male nurse who allegedly facilitated the abortion, also said people should be conscious of worship centres. He said Nwabueze would be arraigned before the court to serve as a deterrent.

Reacting to the development, Executive Director, Institute of Human rights and Humanitarian Law, IHRHL, Mr Ayankwee Nsirimovu, described the action of the bishop as unfortunate as  it was done by one in a position of spiritual trust.  He said the incident was one case out of  the experiences of under aged girls, married and single women in the offices of  randy bishops and clergy men.

How we catered for kidnapped Justice’s wife, daughter - Suspect

By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin-City
It was harvest of arrests in Benin City, Edo State capital after men of the Department of State Security (DSS) paraded three members of a gang suspected of kidnapping the wife, daughter and driver of a justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, in May.

Seven other suspects paraded were three alleged extortionists who were said to have threatened to kill their victim if he didn’t pay up and a musician for trafficking in persons.

The State Director of the SSS, Mr. Bello Bakori, who paraded the suspects before Governor Adams Oshiomhole and journalists, said the suspects confessed to the crimes and that three members of the gang that kidnapped the justice’s wife remained at large. He said Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour and her daughter were kept in a house along Zomi Zomi area, in Upper Sokponba area of Benin-City where the kidnapping suspects were  arrested. All the kidnapping suspects are from Delta State while the trafficker in persons is from Edo.

[caption id="attachment_401786" align="alignright" width="412"] The suspects[/caption]

One of the suspects confessed that he was ignorant of the people who were abducted but only fed them as directed by the kidnappers. According to him, “they brought them to the house, a woman and her daughter and I was asked to go out to buy rice for them to eat. Sometimes I bought bread for them too. But I didn’t know they were kidnapped”. Oshiomhole expressed shock that majority of the crimes committed in the state were perpetrated by Deltans.

He declared that the building used by the kidnapping suspects to hold the justice’s wife, daughter and driver will be demolished.  “For the landlords, we have made the decision that anyone that aids and abets kidnapping will have his structure demolished. Any hotelier who does not follow the instruction of documenting those who stay in his hotel and allow his hotel to be used for kidnapping or human trafficking, we will demolish the hotel.  Nobody has the right to make money out of the pains of Nigerians”, he said.

Oshiomhole expressed joy that security agencies were able to arrest the gang that kidnapped the wife and daughter of the Supreme Court justice, saying: “This is a major breakthrough. What is important is for criminals to know that there is no more immunity.

It is a matter of when, not whether they would be caught, and that the officers and men are determined to do their best and those involved in crime would be brought to justice”. He noted: “Majority of these criminals, 95% of them, are from Delta State. It shows that in this business of crime, criminals are very mobile. No state can find solution as they keep moving from one state to the other. When their colleagues hear that they have been put on trial, they would look elsewhere.”

To members of the public the governor said. “This is something that people should take into account, that your own relation may well be the source of your problem. Your own cook may well be the source of your problem; your guard may well be the source of your problem.

All of us need to be careful and not take anything for granted. The lesson from this effort is that when we report to law enforcement agents, they can be arrested, but when we pay ransom, then we are providing additional incentives for the criminals to remain in business. Every ransom we pay is an opportunity for them to do more. The message is clear, we must resist paying ransom.

We must take law enforcement agencies into confidence. We must trust them. Let me use this opportunity to appeal to our parents that we must watch over our children, particularly our daughters. As we heard from one of those arrested, this business is to attract unsuspecting young girls into travelling with all kinds of lousy promises. In their innocence, they submit and they take them across the borders and they face all kinds of dehumanizing experiences”.

Barely 24 hours after the parade of the suspects, the Edo State Police Command paraded another 26 suspects amongst them a pastor, Philips Ogbebor, alleged to have forced a 20 year-old male member of his church (names withheld) into sodomy. After having it through the anus, the pastor allegedly threatened to kill his victim if he disclosed the dastardly act to anyone.

There was also an alleged case of rape against two suspects who were said to have dragged a 20-year-old female victim into the bush just as the police paraded five persons including a middle aged woman, from Ojah, Akoko-Edo local government council, accused of burning to death one Funmi Abiodun on the allegation of being a witch responsible for the death of a relation.

According to the Edo CP, Funso Adebanjo, “the war against criminality is relentlessly being waged against men of the underworld; the command is not leaving any stone unturned as regards crime and criminality in Edo State. This man, who claimed to be a pastor, defiled a young person. Another thing that is so common here and I don’t know why it is this defilement. I wonder if there is something about it, you see old men defiling young girls who are five years, two years, and so on”.

Speaking to Sunday Vanguard, Pastor Ogbebor simply said, “God will judge, go and talk to others. I don’t have anything to tell you but God will judge”.

However, his victim narrated: “I told him I had never done this since I grew up, but he insisted; it was painful and I now said I will not  allow it again.  After the second attempt, I said I would expose him;then he said we had to take an oath that if I ever said it out, I would die. He carried sand and olive oil and poured it on my head. He killed a black fowl and gave me the liver and gizzard at around 2 am to eat threatening that if I ever said it out, I will die like the fowl died.

But when I realised that it is a sin, I met a man of God that he should pray for me, that God should forgive me and that I was ready to say it since he forced me and I went to the church publicly to say it out. When he heard it, he was now threatening me, sending his younger brother and others after me; since then I have been running”.

Also, two persons, Frank Chukwudozie, Samuel Ugochukwu, allegedly dragged a 20-year-old lady into the bush and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her. Chukwudozie narrated: “We had been admiring her, but each time we tried to talk to her, she refused. So, that particular day, we watched her as she  stepped out of their house, we followed her till we got to a lonely area, then we caught her,  took her to the bush and raped her”.

Another suspect, Obaze Aigbontaen,  32, was arrested for alleged defilement of a seven-year-old girl. His confession: “I don’t know what to say, it is the devil’s work. I did not know when something pushed me to take the little girl and made love to her before she started shouting. I had to close her mouth with handkerchief. But I am sorry for what I did, it is the devil”.

Journey of no return to Borno: Tears for 10 Oyo Boko Haram victims

By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan
If weeping could raise the dead, tears from hundreds of traders at Bodija Market, Ibadan, Oyo State capital,  on Tuesday, would certainly do. But the grief that trailed the death of ten traders, allegedly murdered by Boko Haram in Muguna, Borno State was not enough to wake the dead.

Even though the news of the slain traders  had been broken through a phone call by one of their customers on Friday, June 28,many of the traders were still thinking miracle could happen until they saw the bodies of the victims. The remains of the traders were delivered to their families who gathered at Egbeda Local Government Area of the state to collect them.

[caption id="attachment_402431" align="alignnone" width="412"] FOR SLAIN IBADAN TRADERS—Sympathisers and relations of the slain traders weep as their bodies arrive Ibadan. Photos: Dare Fasube.[/caption]

Two colleagues of the victims, Alhaji Ibrahim Ademola and Taoheed Azeez, escaped the attack. The victims were said to have been slaughtered. One of them who initially survived the gun shots was said to have been butchered. The survivors were allegedly shot but pretended as if they were dead.

The victims were identified as  Emiola Akeem, one of the executives in the market, Seye Adegboyega, Jelili Popoola, Ojo Mosobalaje, Fatai Kareem and Femi Oyetunde. Others are Ninalowo Saheed, Saburu Lanlehin, Lekan Oladokun, Sola Adeoye and Nurudeen Lawal.

It was gathered that one of the victims was so dismembered that his corpse could not be carried from the scene of the attack. Sources  said it had started decomposing.

When Sunday Vanguard visited the market, many of the traders wore mournful looks. Most of the shops were under lock and key. Some of the traders slept  on benches while others stood in clusters to discuss the ugly incident. The case was worse at the beans and fish sellers sections of the market.

The market Public Relations Officer, Mr. Akeem Emiola, said the emergency rule imposed by the Federal Government in Borno State deceived the slain traders.

According the image maker of the market, the traders would not  have died  the market association had not lifted the ban on traveling to the North at one of their meetings following the emergency rule.

‘Emergency rule misled us’

He said, “When four of our members were killed on May 5, we banned traveling to the North by our members. But the emergency rule which government imposed deceived us. We thought that since the emergency rule was in operation, there would be security for our people. After the announcement of the emergency rule, our colleagues went there twice and came back without  harm. This last  was the third trip.”

Clamour for disintegration

When asked about his stance on the statement by some aggrieved people that if being together in the same country would be this costly and dangerous, it would be better if everybody goes on his own, he said the killing of the people and the insecurity was unbearable.”The best thing for us is to go our own way and they, too, go their own way. This kind of thing cannot continue.

[caption id="attachment_401951" align="alignnone" width="412"] FOR SLAIN IBADAN TRADERS—Sympathisers and relations of 10 Bodija Market traders killed at Mugunu in Borno State by members of Boko Haram weep as their bodies were brought back to Ibadan, Tuesday. Photos: Dare Fasube.[/caption]

If I travel to Ghana or Cotonou, there is no security threat. I will be safe there. Citizens of other neighbouring countries respect our feelings, show love, and encourage togetherness but, the opposite is the case in a country I call my own. How can you explain a situation whereby people who we call our country men attack our people at 3pm. We have been saying it over and over again. Our responsibility as citizens is to find a job to do and not be a burden to government. The duty of  government is to provide security for us. But the government has failed in its own duty,” Emiola said.

“When four of our people were killed in May 5, we told our people not to go there again. That lasted four to five weeks. But, when we had another  meeting, our members said since emergency rule had been declared, we should continue with our business trips. We agreed. They went about two times and nothing happened. We thought that the imposition of the emergency rule would provide security for us, but, we were mistaken”. The interview with the Bodija Market PRO continued:

 

Why they killed our people

All they wanted to do was to scare us from trading so that their people(Hausa) would be bringing the goods down here. In the previous attack, they killed our people and collected the N11million, and, in this latest attack, they collected N22million from our people before slaughtering them. How would my people not say we should disintegrate?

We prevented reprisal attack

Some of our people were so grieved that they wanted to carry out  reprisal attack, but, we did not allow them because two wrongs cannot make a right. It is not the same Hausa that killed our people that are in Ibadan here. We can’t attack them. We won’t think like they think. We would show them that we are more civilized.

Rumour of protest

We won’t stage any protest. Our governor has been very good to us. It would be unfair to protest in Ibadan when the attack was not carried out here. It is the fault of the Federal Government and not our state governor, Governor Abiola Ajimobi. When those corpses were brought yesterday(Tuesday), the governor was not around but he sent his Commissioner and one Special Adviser.

Any future trips to the North?

What should we go and do in a place whose people tell you point blank that they don’t want you? Should we continue going there so that they can be killing us? We won’t go there again. When our people were attacked the first time, relatives of our people, even though, they did not relate with the deceased people while alive, accosted us asking  why  we sent their relatives to the battlefront? Up till now, we are still trying to explain to them that after the initial ban, these boys came to us saying they did not want  to die of hunger. When they go like that, they get some money in their pockets.

Effects of refusal to go for business trip

It won’t affect us much. The beans we buy there is just one out of other several varieties. They call it “Oloyin”(brown tasty beans) and it is not the only place that produces it. It is just that they produce more quantity than other places. We can get it elsewhere.

Killed Lagos gang: We could have exposed Lagos council boss' kidnappers but... — Neighbours

By Evelyn Usman

The peace enjoyed by residents of  Idomila community, located off Agbara  Igbesa area of Ogun State, was, in the early hours of  Monday, suspended following sporadic gun shots which jolted  the residents  from sleep.

The gun shots, described as one of the worst in the history of the community, were initially concluded to be from robbers. But when the dust settled, it was discovered to  be a  gun duel between operatives of Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja and suspected members of a notorious kidnap syndicate that used a building in the community as  hideout.

At the end of the gun battle, seven suspected kidnappers were killed and two taken alive, in army uniform, with the recovery of four AK 47 rifles, 28 AK 47 magazines fully loaded, more than 1,000 rounds of AK- 47 live ammunition, army uniforms and two vehicles — a Honda CRV SUV with number plate ABC 106 AE and a Nissan Pathfinder SUV with number plate AGL 730 AZ.

The alleged kidnappers; according to the police, were responsible for the abduction of the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area boss, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan, two months ago and a Federal High Court     judge, who was on a visit to Lagos..

Investigation by Sunday Vanguard revealed that one of the suspects, alleged to be  the gang leader and one of those killed during the police operation, Jonah Benjamin Osinachi, rented the three-bedroom bungalow in March, 2013.  The building is situated on the outskirts of Idomila, with some uncompleted buildings around it.

Osinachi, popularly known as China, reportedly did not not stay in the apartment which  gates, neighbuors said, were always shut. But three suspected members of the gang were reportedly  always indoors.

Further investigation revealed that while some of the residents, majority of whom are farmers and traders,  were suspicious of the activities of occupants of the building, they could, however , not place their fingers on the exact business they were into. On the other hand, some of them, who claimed to be aware they could be into kidnapping, could not disclose this to security operatives for fear of  reprisal.

One o f the residents, who spoke on phone, said: “Their arrest did not come to some of us as a surprise. This is because we had always known they were into kidnapping but were afraid to report to them to the police for fear of being killed. They  usually drove out at odd hours , say about 12 midnight and  returned  about three hours later. After that, the gates would not be opened until the next morning when they would drive out again. After two to three days, we won’t see them again until about two weeks later”.

Corroborating this claim, Lagos State Commissioner of Police , Mr Umar Manko, disclosed that   members of the gang lived in Ghana but only came to Lagos to perpetrate their heinous activities.

“ Remember when the Ejigbo  LCDA chairman was kidnapped, I promised Lagosians we were going to arrest the kidnappers. We later  got information that these kidnappers were based in Ghana and all efforts to arrest them in Ghana failed because the country had her procedure and they insisted we could not just go there to make any arrest”, Manko told journalists.

“We went to Ghana with a team of international policemen, INTERPOL, but, after 31 days without a headway, our policemen returned to Nigeria.

“Based on painstaking follow-up and surveillance in tracking these kidnappers, men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) discovered their hideout in Agbara two weeks ago. The Commander of SARS, Mr Abba Kyari, led a team of crack detectives to a suburb in Agbara where the kidnappers had their camp. “After 72 hours of waiting in ambush, the men cordoned off the area, then stormed the house where all the kidnappers gathered around 3 am”.

The suspected kidnappers, it was learnt, only visited Nigeria on weekends when they lodged in hotels close to the area.  Then they would storm Lagos, abduct their victims and take them to their camp at Agbara where those resident in the flat would take over. The remaining six members would, thereafter, leave for the hotel, from where they would  call relatives of their victims demanding for ransom. When ransom is paid, they would  blindfold their victims and drive them to another part of Ogun State where they would drop them. After any successful operation, they would leave for Ghana where they would share their loot.

[caption id="attachment_400377" align="alignnone" width="412"] The suspects[/caption]

End of the road
Disclosing how the kidnap syndicate was smashed, a police source said: “Having stayed around their camp for  some days to monitor their movements, we noticed that only three persons were stationed permanently in the flat. And if we had struck then, we won’t be able to get the rest of the members and that would have foiled the desired effort, because others would go and  regroup.

“So we waited until they went out at 12 midnight and came back with a man later discovered to be an Indian, who they abducted in Ikoyi. When they arrived, we waited for them to settle down and to, at least, to  keep the victim safe. We did not strike  immediately so as not to kill the victim.

“From our investigation, we learnt that victims were usually kept at the left hand side of the flat while they (kidnappers) occupied the right side. Having waited for three hours, without any sight of any of them driving out, we decided to go inside.

“Immediately we went inside, they opened fire from the window and this led to a gun duel. In the process, two of them jumped over the fence to escape but were shot dead by our men stationed there. Others attempted to escape through the kitchen door to an uncompleted  building. They were also gunned down by some policemen who laid ambush there. At the end, seven of them were killed”.

Army uniform
Before they met their waterloo, the suspected kidnappers reportedly operated in army uniform, thus making it impossible for members of the public to know their true identities. Sunday Vanguard reliably gathered that areas they always targeted were Lekki,  Ikoyi and Victoria Island. Other areas where they reportedly  struck were done on information.

Their modus oparandi included intercepting vehicles of victims, pretending to be soldiers. They would, thereafter,  drag their victim out, push him into their vehicle and zoom off to their camp in Agbara.  The kidnappers also reportedly operated in broad day light, especially at weekends, throwing caution to the wind. Anytime they encountered gridlock, two of them would alight from their vehicle to control the traffic for easy passage. At other times, when caught in traffic, they would accost a victim in his car and order him to come out, that his attention was needed in the cantonment.

Anytime a victim proves tough, they would beat him up and drag him into their vehicle.

Following this new trend, CP Manko advised Lagosians to be wary of men in uniform of any kind. “ People have to be more conscious while dealing with people in uniform  for now”, the police boss said.

Police sources hinted that after each successful kidnap , a bureau-de-change operator, whose identity was given simply as mallam, would be handed the loot. The mallam would take the loot to Ghana, from where  members of the gang would  collect their share.

But the suspected leader of the gang, Osinachi, always collected his share before handing the rest  to mallam .

One of the arrested suspects, Uchenna Nwanyu (25),  who denied ever taking part in any of the kidnapping, admitted, however,  to always watch over their victims. Nwanyu disclosed that although   Osinachi was his boss, he was never paid any reasonable amount at the end of the day. With the killing of his boss and  members of his gang, Nwanyu said Lagos would experience peace in the area of kidnapping.

His words: “I worked for my boss, Osinachi, whom we all called China. His father hailed from China while his mother was from Imo State. I managed his building in Ghana and his restaurant. I was only in Lagos on his instruction to help procure international visas for his wife and two children. He told me  they would be spending  this year’s Christmas in London.

“While in Lagos, he called me to come to Agbara, that his goods would be arriving that day. When I got there, I met him and his friends, some of whom were smoking and drinking. When it was close to 12 midnight, they brought out their charms, said some incantations and brought out a liquid substance which they poured on their heads. After that , they  left the house in army uniform and guns.

“I was sleeping when they came back with a white man . They told me to take the man to my room and watch over him. While in the room, I overheard my boss telling his friends that he was tired and could not go to the hotel he usually stayed whenever he visited Lagos. He said he would go to the hotel the next day, from where he would contact the white man’s relatives for ransom.

‘Peace in Lagos’
“But few hours later, I heard gun shots. It never happened like that before. I lay down and also asked the white man to lie down so as not to be hit by stray bullet. I heard my boss instructing his boys that everybody should flee for their lives. I could not leave the room for fear of being hit by bullet.

“When the gun shots died down, I decided to come out, only to behold the lifeless bodies of  my boss and four of  his friends  in the sitting room. I raised my hands up and remained there until someone  hit me with  the boot of a gun and I fell down.

“I have always known my boss was into kidnapping. But I just could not tell him to his face to stop. Anytime I watched the news and saw reports of any  arrest of kidnappers, I would call his attention to it but he would dismiss it with a wave of the hand saying those arrested were not smart enough.
“With the killing of this people, I assure you that Lagos will experience a down turn in kidnapping because the major kidnap here is done by the group”
Asked if he knew the identities of those kidnapped, he shook his head and said: “ No”.

London-bound wife and hard drugs
Continuing, Nwanyu said: “ I do not think my boss’s wife was aware of what he was into . He only gave her the impression that he was into  hard drugs and that was why he said he asked them to relocate to Ghana from where he planned to move them to London next year . That is why he procured their visas.

“I have severally thought of quitting but could not because I was yet to get a reasonable amount with which to start life afresh. Now I have been arrested without any thing to show for the three years I worked with China”.