A man, Emmanuel Aniefiok, has accused the pastor of a new generation church in Chococho, in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State of luring his wife to a guest house and raping her.
Aniefiok, who spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt, said the pastor told his wife that he had a message for her.
“My wife did not know that the place was a guest house. When she got there, he dragged her in. My wife asked him what he was doing there. He told her to keep quiet so that he could give her the message. As she entered and sat on the chair, the next thing he did was to shut the door; he dragged and tore her clothes. In the process, he hit her, put her hands behind her back and raped her,” he added.
Aniefiok also accused the cleric of using the police from Zone 16 in Bayelsa State to threaten his life, expressing surprise that the police were after him although he reported the matter to them initially.
He called on the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, to intervene.
“When the police went to arrest him, he jumped the fence and took to his heels. Now, the same police that I reported to, is the same police that the man went to Bayelsa to meet and write a petition against me. The police are now against me. I can’t endure it anymore because I don’t have anyone to help me fight this cause,” he added.
The Presiding Pastor of the Apostolic Christian Church Mission, Apostle Kanu Emmanuel, while reacting to the allegation on a programme on 92.3FM Nigeria Info, Port Harcourt, disowned the suspect.
He said, “He was formerly one of my pastors. But now, because he has committed this type of crime, he is no more with me.”
A spokesman for the state police command, Nnamdi Omoni, said he had yet to be briefed on the matter and advised Aniefiok to make a formal complaint to the command.
“I have not been briefed. But let him do a formal report to my office and we will investigate. We assure him that he will be protected when that is done. But we will investigate the matter,” Omoni said.
PUNCH