Police in Ogun have arrested 48-year-old Pastor Michael Abiodun of The Light House Gospel Church, Oluwo, Owode-Egba, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state, for allegedly defiling and impregnating a 12-year-old member of his church (names withheld).
State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
According to the PPRO, the pastor was arrested following information received by policemen at Owode Egba Divisional Headquarters.
He said the police gathered that the victim’s mother joined the church while seeking solution to a spiritual problem which had earlier claimed the lives of two of her daughters.
The police spokesman added, “In order to prevent the victim from the same calamity, she ran to the church for deliverance.
“On the fateful day, the pastor, a father of three, asked the victim’s mother to send her to him for special prayer. 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, detailed his detectives to the scene where the randy pastor was promptly arrested.
“On interrogation, he confessed to the commission of the crime but blamed it on the devil.
“He further confessed to being the person who deflowered the victim who was a JSS 2 student.
“The mother of the victim explained to the police that since her daughter had not been menstruating before, it was difficult for her to know that she was pregnant until seven months after.
“The victim, who was delivered of a baby three months ago, informed the police that she was threatened by the pastor of the dire consequences if she informed anybody about what happened between them, and that was the reason she didn’t inform her mother.”
The PPRO added that the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered the transfer of the suspect to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and prosecution.