A 48- year old pastor, Michael Abiodun, has been arrested by the police in Ogun State for raping and impregnating a 12-year old girl.
The suspect, a minister in charge of The Light House Gospel Church, Oluwo, Owode Egba in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, after his arrest has blamed the devil for the crime.
The mother of the victim, who attends the suspect’s church was said to have reported the matter to the police at Owode Egba divisional police headquarters before the arrest of the randy pastor.
Confirming the incident, the Ogun State Police Command’s spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said investigation revealed that the victim’s mother joined the church after battling a spiritual problem that claimed the lives of two of her daughters.
Oyeyemi, in a statement, said: “In order to prevent her third daughter, the victim, from dying like her sisters, she had run to the church for deliverance.
“So, one fateful day, the pastor a father of three, asked the victim’s mother to send her to him for special prayers but on getting there, the pastor took her into a room within the church and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her, which resulted in pregnancy.
“Upon the information, the DPO of Owode Egba division, CSP Olasunkanmi Popoola, deployed his men to the church where the pastor was arrested.
“On interrogation, he confessed that he committed the crime but blamed it on the devil.
“He further confessed that he was the person that deflowered the victim, who was a JSS 2 student.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, has ordered that the case be transferred to State CIID for further investigation and prosecution.”
Oyeyemi also quoted the mother of the victim as saying that “I did not know my daughter was pregnant until seven months after because she had not been menstruating before.”
Also, the victim, who was delivered of a baby three months ago, had reportedly told the police that she was threatened by the pastor not to inform anybody about what happened between them or else she would die. She, therefore, said that was the reason she didn’t inform her mother about the incident.
