Image source: Vanguard |
It was a job that was to
fetch him ₦300,000.
But the table was turned and, instead, a
44-year-old ex-convict, Festus Balogun, ended up in police detention where he
is cooling his feet.
Vanguard
report continues:
For
months, the suspect had been on the wanted list of Ondo State Police Command as
detectives tried to smoke him out of his hideout, following complaints by
some pastors of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) that someone was blackmailing
them for pecuniary gains.
A
dragnet was set for the suspect and he was apprehended. Balogun confessed
to the police that he was lured into the act by a marketer who ended up
duping him.
The
suspect, aka “Smart”, released from Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons in
December, last year, had released a compact disk (video) in which he
allegedly blackmailed the 12 pastors of the church.
Balogun
said he was lured into the blackmail by the marketer, who promised him an
initial reward of ₦300,000 with more to come subsequently.
Sunday
Vanguard gathered that the marketer, in conjunction with the suspect, rolled
out the CD, titled, Asiri Tu (secret exposed), in which he claimed that
12 prominent pastors engaged him to kill for them to gain spiritual power.
The
suspect alleged that the pastors were involved in ritual killing and other
fetish acts.
“Some
prominent men of God, numbering 12 and namely: Pastor Samson Olueamodede of
Prayer Centre Church of God, Idanre Road, Akure and Pastor Samuel Kayode
Abiara, the General Evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide and ten
others, engaged him to kill for them to gain spiritual power”, a police source
said.
Speaking
with Sunday Vanguard when he was paraded by the police in Akure, the
suspect confessed to the alleged crime and admitted that he was convicted
for cultism and imprisoned in the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons in the
past.
Balogun
said he had never been in contact with any of the men of God he made
the allegations against in his video and had never killed in his life. He said
that all what he alleged in the video were lies in a bid to make money from the
victims.
The
suspect denied that he was sponsored by other pastors to tarnish the image of
the CAC pastors. The suspect said he saw it as a means to make quick money for
his survival after his jail experience.
Balogun
claimed that he was induced by a marketer in Ibafo, Ogun State, who promised to
reward him with ₦300,000 for the CD. A source said the suspect had given
useful information on how the fleeing marketer and producer would be
apprehended by the police. He regretted that the marketer, after the release of
the video, went underground. Balogun explained that “the marketer has not given
me anything after the video was released”.
He
however pleaded that the pastors that were blackmailed should “find a place in
their hearts to forgive him” One of the 12 pastors that were blackmailed,
Oluwamodede, who came to witness the confession” of the suspect,
declared that he had forgiven his blackmailer. The pastor said
God had vindicated him and his colleagues. He, however, urged
security agencies to ensure that people who engage in such blackmailing acts
are dealt with as specified by the law, so that it will serve as deterrent
to others.
Speaking with Sunday
Vanguard after the suspect was paraded, the state Police Commissioner, Mike
Ogbodu, said the “video CD was released and sold within and outside
the country.”
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