Two leaders of a Christian community, Chidi Samuel and Paul Zakari, were apprehended by the Ogun State Police Command for burying one of their members.
State Police Commissioner Lanre Bankole told reporters that Samuel and Zakari took seven youths with them to a remote area in Oyan village for what they claimed was a Bible study and fellowship.
The late Okumazor Favor, 20, was among the youngsters who attended the so-called Bible study and fellowship.
Before his death, Favor was ill without the knowledge of his parents. The suspects had refused to let the deceased return home even though she was ill and proceeded to bury her in a shallow grave without her parents’ consent after her death.
The commissioner said:While in the isolated area, one of the youths, whose parents went missing at Ibafo police station, fell ill and later died. The suspects, who refused to let the girl go when she fell ill in secret, buried her in a shallow village grave.
He added that it was one of the youngsters who escaped from the event who informed the deceased parents of his death, hence the arrest of the suspects.
In an interview with the Saturday Tribune, Samuel, 32, told his side of the story:Am from Abia state but live in Alamo, Magboro. I am a pastor at Lifebuilders Network. It’s a ministry, not a church, and it’s a youth, evangelism, and Bible study program.
“In October 2021, we went to a program at Oyan village in Imala town to engage in Bible study and prayer. The trip was to last six months. We had been about four months when we got sick. We managed but one of the girls we came with got so bad. With the little money we had, we took her to the hospital but she died.
He said the nurse who treated her said the deceased suffered from typhoid, malaria and anaemia.
When asked if parents were aware of the program, he said yes. However, he admitted that they did not call her parents when she was sick and also after her death.
“We have done our best. It was a spiritual attack, but our mistake was that we didn’t call his parents. Chidi said.
