The founder of Christ High Commission Church, Araromi-Ugbesi in Omuo-Oke, Ekiti State, Noah Abraham, has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and holding hostage his church members’ children.
The pastor was arrested by the Ekiti State Police Command in collaboration with the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, for the alleged kidnapping of over nine persons, including minors, and impregnating the wife of his choir coordinator.
According to reports, some of the hostages were children of his members whom he had hypnotized, brainwashed, and set against their parents.
Some of the parents of the children held hostage, church members, and even Pastor Abraham’s legal wife, who had staged a protest to the Ekiti State Police Command, pleaded with the government and appropriate authorities to assist them in rescuing their children, wife, and relatives from the pastor’s captivity.
Pastor Abraham, they claim, pushed their children to drop out of school, while a 27-year-old guy who was already working for an undisclosed company and granted an official vehicle was ordered to resign and was detained at the camp without a specific objective.
Mr. Dare Ikuenayo, the church’s choir coordinator, acknowledged to journalists that the pastor kidnapped 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 prophecy that I should allow her to stay with him for a month and work for God, to which I obliged.
“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.”
Mrs. Mary Abraham, the pastor’s wife, testified that after they arrived in Omuo-Ekiti for the abortive divine mission, her husband came in one night and requested that she leave 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.”
In the same vein, one of the pastors working under Abraham said his son, who was already working at a reputable institution, was asked to resign and held hostage.
The pastor said, “Even when I logged in with a 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, and I am left with nothing. Even my children don’t want to see me; I don’t know what he did to them.”
Another elderly woman, Pastor Abraham’s elder sister, said that he collected about a million naira from her on several occasions in order to purify her of evil spirits.
It was also learned that there are numerous other complaints against Pastor Abraham, each with a different story that is too detailed and delicate for media publishing.
In his response, Pastor Abraham claimed to feel fulfilled because he had completed his responsibilities as commanded by God, but he refused to give any explanation for his conduct.
At the time of filing this report, the wife of the coordinator whom the founder impregnated is still at large.
In an interview with journalists, DSP Sunday Abutu, spokesman for the Ekiti State Police Command, said the investigation is underway in partnership with NAPTIP and that the police would go on to the next line of action.
Remember that Pastor Abraham was arrested on April 27, 2022, in Omuo-Ekiti after gathering over forty people in a camp and collecting three hundred and ten thousand Naira from each of them as a ticket fee to heaven, but he was given bail before a magistrate court.
