Pastor,9 Members Landed In Police Net Over Alleged Killing Of Deity Worshipper In Lagos

— Oro Festival Observer Stoned To Death In A Church In Oko Oba Town, Lagos

The Pastor of Truth and The Spirit Prophetic Church,Mercy Okoch, alongside nine of his church members have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for an alleged stoning a deity worshipper,Agboola Akeem to death in a clash that ensued between the two groups at the church premises.

The Worshippers were said to be observing their usual Oro Festival which is an annual event in the town by believers of the deity, where all women and non-participants are mandated to stay indoors for that period at stake.

Accordingto a statement issued on Wednesday by Lagos State Police Command through its spoke person,sp Benjamin Hundeyin, said “the Police Division at oko oba town received a distress call from residents of the area on Tuesday evening that a church was about to be set ablaze by some traditional worshippers, and our officers immediately stormed the church environment and returned normalcy back to the area but met a man who lied in the pool of his blood,who was identified as traditional worshipper.

“After investigating the incident,the pastor of Truth and The Spirit Prophetic Church,Mercy Okoch, alongside nine of his church members were arrested in connection to the death of the traditional worshipper”.

Akeem said to be Stoned to death around 6:30PM on Tuesday, August 23 when a deity festival (otherwise known as Oro in Yoruba traditional religion) was ongoing and where the occupants of the town were said to have been informed about total restriction of any activity at that period.

Narrating their ordeals,some of the residents who spoke in camera, said while the Oro worshippers were celebrating their Festival, they noticed that a church service was taking place in the area and they therefore approached and asked them to stop the church program for the time being but it was said that the pastor and some of his members turned a deaf ears to the calls from the traditional worshippers, that which led to an argument between them.

The argument which later degenerated to an uproar where they started stoning themselves where one of the dirty worshippers died in the clash.

The killing which got the traditional worshippers furious, whereby the sky was painted black and made efforts to burn down the church before they were stopped through the intervention of the police.

Police therefore called on the residents in the area to be religious tolerance of one another and stop escalating the matter in order to prevent the further reoccurrence of such incidence as investigation is still ongoing on the matter.