Posted by By CHRISTOPHER OJI on
The quest to open a church has driven two ex-convicts back to crime as they robbed a bank in Akure, Ondo State, of N25 million.
The quest to open a church has driven two ex-convicts back to crime as they robbed a bank in Akure, Ondo State, of N25 million.
The two men who met in prison, were paraded following their claim of repentance after an alleged encounter with the Holy Spirit.
Identified as Pastor Matthew Adeniji and Evangelist Akeem Benjamin Anjorin, the duo had, in July 2005, allegedly swooped on the NBN Bank in Akure with eight others, carting away N25 million. They were paraded Wednesday, by the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Adeniji Adele alongside five other members of their gang.
The Commissioner of Police-in-charge of the squad, Mr Emmanuel Ezeozue, told Daily Sun that over N2 million was recovered from the two men. Also, two dane guns and some lives cartridges as well as five vehicles, including a Bedford tipper, Mercedes Benz 190 car, Nissan bus, Toyota bus and a Nissan Bluebird car were recovered from them.
Evangelist Anjorin, the alleged ring leader, told Daily Sun that he was indeed an evangelist working with World Soul Winning Evangelical Mission (WOSEM) at the Challenge area of Ibadan.
He said: "My share from the NBN Bank robbery was N4 million. We were five that shared it and we got N4 million each. Pastor Matthew got N4 million also, but my girlfriend, Iyabo, got N220,000 while we gave the driver N200,000.
"I bought three cars with my own share of the money. I still kept other money that Pastor Matthew and I wanted to use in building our church because we had plans of opening our own church."
He revealed that he conceived the idea of robbing a bank when Pastor Matthew approached him that they should look for money to open a church.
"Where else could we get big cash, except the bank? We tried Union Bank and failed, but we succeeded with NBN," he added.
Pastor Matthew, has written a book entitled "From Death to Life," and describes himself as a miracle worker. "We wanted to open up our church and Evangelist Akeem told me that he had perfected plans to rob NBN Bank. So, we went and we were successful. I said okay, if I rob the bank, open a church and use the medium to preach the word of God, it was not a bad idea because, I was a condemned robber who spent 17 years waiting for the hangman but Obasanjo gave me a presidential pardon. I was touched and I became a born again.
"It was while in prison that I met Akeem, but we were converted to Christianity, doing the good work of God, I think it was the devil that used Akeem against me because we were making money in evangelism. I wrote spiritual books which people have been buying."