Peter Dada, Akure

A ‘pastor’, identified as Adeniyi Johnson was arrested on Wednesday evening at Ijomu area of Akure, the Ondo State capital for being in possession of fried meat suspected to be human parts.

The suspect who claimed to be a pastor of a Pentecostal church said he was posted to the branch of the church at Ipogun town in Ifedore Local Government Area of the state.

According to an eyewitness, the pastor went to the busy Ijomu street and brought out pieces of fried meat from his bag and put them in a tray and started begging people to join him and eat from the meat.

His bizzare action was said to have attracted spectators who suspected the meat to be human parts meant for ritual purposes.

“The people in the area quickly gathered to lynch him because they also found some other fetish items inside his bag but security agents rescued him and took him to the palace of the Akure monarch for interrogation,” an eyewitness said.

Some of the other fetish items allegedly found in his bag were a feather and dead birds.

Facing the interrogation of the chiefs at the palace, the suspect said he got involved in the ritual to save the life of his child, who had been ill for sometime, adding that his action was not aimed at harming the people who ate from the meat.

He said, “I am a pastor of the Living Faith Church, I am not a bad person. I did this because my child is sick. I did not force anybody to eat the meat.

“I have an instruction from God to prepare the meat for people, and nobody has eaten from it. If anybody refuses to eat of the meat, I have been instructed not to fight anybody about it.”

Shortly after, he was handed over to the policemen who whisked him away to the Area Command headquarters in Akure for further interrogation.

However, a pastor of the Winners Chapel, in the town, on condition of anonymity, said Johnson had been sacked as a pastor of the church when he started showing some signs of insanity, to enable his family to take care of him.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ondo Police Command, Mr. Femi Joseph, was not available for comment but a senior officer who did not want his name in the print said some pastors from the church had visited the police station to attest that Johnson had a mental problem.

He said the suspect would still be in the police custody till the time his family would present the medical record on his mental state.

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