RE-PLACENTA ON CHURCH ALTAR AND FALSE PUBLICATIONS: DEFENDANTS DENY ALLEGATIONS
Hearing on the case of alleged planting of placenta on the altar of Promisedland Prophetic Ministry, Oba-Ile, Akure, Ondo State resumed in Court 5 of the Ondo State High Court on Monday 28th September 2020 and continued on 29th and 30th September.
The case, which had to do with the alleged burial of placentas and other fetish objects on the altar of Promisedland Prophetic Ministries, opposite Shasha Market, Akure has been in progress since January 2020. The other leg of the case is the alleged threat to life and alleged publication of false news about the General Overseer of the Prophetic Ministry, Pastor GbengaAkinbiyi and one Ajidahun Emmanuel.
The first defendant in the case, Pastor Abiodun John opened his defence on Monday 28th September and closed it on 30thSeptember. He informed the Court that he lived under the same roof with Pastor Gbenga Akinbiyi between 1997 and 2011 as his Personal Assistant and first evangelist. He narrated to the Court how Pastor Gbenga Akinbiyi called him one night in 2008 after their night prayer and took him to the church site that was still at foundation stage then. He further stated how Pastor GbengaAkinbiyi dug a location of the present altar and emptied the content of a black nylon bag into the hole. Pastor Abiodun John claimed to have smelled the blood of a new baby and that Pastor Gbenga Akinbiyi confirmed the content of the nylon bag to be seven placentas that he sourced from the nurses and Doctors that were attending his Church.
The Investigative Police Officer, Ife Akinkuowo had earlier testified that the soil samples that were taken when the Altar of the Promisedland Prophetic Ministry was dug in 2019 is lying fallow at the exhibit room of the headquarters of the Ondo State Police Command in Akure, thus implying that investigation in the matter was not concluded before the matter was charged to Court.
A mild drama ensued during the Court session when the first defendant, Pastor Abiodun John informed the Court that the petitioners in the placenta case; Messrs Abayomi Ojo and Charles Ayileka wrote to the Commissioner of Police that he(Abiodun John) should be investigated alongside Pastor GbengaAkinbiyi but that he is surprised that he was the only one that isarraigned for the placenta case as he only assisted Pastor GbengaAkinbiyi during the act of burying the seven placentas.
On the second leg of the case which has to do with the alleged publication of threat messages and falsehood on the Divine Revelation WhatsApp group, Pastor Abiodun John denied the charges and restated that he and the nominal complainant in the matter, Ajidahun Emmanuel were only abusing themselves and that he never threatened anybody or published falsehood against anybody. He claimed that he also did not impersonate FausatAwelewa as the name and picture that he used as display picture belong to his late sister. Pastor Abiodun John also informed the court that at no time did he conspire with the second defendant in the case, Prof Lanre Olu-Adeyemi who is the Administrator of the WhatsApp group. Among other things, he stated that he never contacted Prof. Lanre Olu-Adeyemi with any request to add him to the platform. He further informed the Court that it was the Pastor-in-charge of the London branch of the Church that requested his number and that he did not remember the exact date that he was added to the WhatsApp group. He equally denied ever sending sms to Professor Lanre Olu-Adeyemi and that the Police never mentioned the issue of the alleged sms to him during the course of investigation. Pastor Abiodun John was emphatic that at no point in time did he conspire with Prof Olu-Adeyemi to do anything and that Professor Olu-Adeyemi isbeing persecuted because he stopped attending Pastor GbengaAkinbiyi’s church.
The second defendant in the matter, Prof Lanre Olu-Adeyemi denied the allegation of conspiracy and explained to the Court, all his activities and service in the ten years that he attended Christ Apostolic Church, Promisedland Ministry. He informed the Court of the various ways through which people get admitted into the WhatsApp group and also presented a 28-page document which the Court admitted as exhibit to prove his case. The Judge, Honourable Bode Adegbehingbe thereafter adjourned the case to 16th and 17th November, 2020.