There is palpable tension in Ibadan, capital Oyo State, as a Pastor, name Owen Abraham, Owen Abraham, a Gambian has disappeared into thin air after stealing 52 phones, money and other valuables belonging to worshippers who attended a crusade he organised.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), during the crusade, which was held in the Agbowo area of Ibadan, was attended by several people who believed that God had led Abraham to come to the town from Gambia.
The alleged theft victims claimed that the pastor had lured them into a three-day of fasting and prayer, only to disappear on the last day of the crusade and all efforts to reach him had been unsuccessful so far.
It was learnt that on the last day of the crusade, the pastor told the attendees that the Holy Spirit had directed him to ask them to submit their phones, money, and other valuables which the complied before he fled with the items.
A widow identified as Mrs. Grace Akintola stated that many widows went to the crusade after Abraham promised to distribute a bag of rice and money to each of them and empower students with scholarships.
She said: “The pastor approached an Igbo lady in our area to assist him to gather widows and students, saying he wanted to help us.
“Someone in my area invited me for the crusade. He wore pastor regalia. He said he will buy a house for one of us and that the house will be fully furnished.
“He promised some people that attended the crusade money. Even politicians cannot give out such amounts he promised.
“On the last day of the crusade, he sold a bottle of water for us at the rate of N4,800. He said perfume is inside the bottle water. Many people paid for the water.”
Also, a student of the University of Ibadan was quoted as saying the pastor claimed he was collecting their phones to avoid distractions during the prayer.
“He said no phone should ring during the programme and that was why he collected all of them,” the student said.
“In fact, he snapped at a lady who stood up and wanted to take his photograph and seized the phone from her.
“He (pastor) later said he wanted to go and eat inside the University of Ibadan after which we didn’t know how he escaped with our belongings.
“As a man of God that he claimed to be, we respected him a lot. We didn’t know that he wanted to use the name of God to dupe us.”
Consequently, residents of the community have declared the pastor wanted with posters of his image posted across the town.
Confirming the incident, Adewale Osifeso, police spokesperson in the state, said the command has commenced an investigation into the case.