Posted by By BIYI ADEGOROYE, CHIOMA OKEZIE, MARIA ADEDOKUN and PAUL AYOOLA on
Members of the Christian Praying Assembly (CPA), whose leader, Rev (Dr.) Emeka Ezeugo King, is in police net for allegedly setting...
Members of the Christian Praying Assembly (CPA), whose leader, Rev (Dr.) Emeka Ezeugo King, is in police net for allegedly setting five people ablaze, have made stunning revelations about the activities of the self-styled "Jesus of our time."
According to them, Rev King terrorized them, to the extent of flogging them with iron rod. This is coming at a time the police is contemplating shutting CPA over acts of lawlessness by its fanatical members since King was arrested.
The complainants, who resided at Rev King's 5/7 Canal Close, Ajao Estate, Lagos painted a frightening picture of the CPA leader's terrorism, an allegation the pastor denied, claiming he is a holy person.
Dressed in black trousers and a blue shirt, before he was sent to a solitary cell, King claimed he neither utilized telephone nor read newspapers, but enriched his knowledge through divine revelations.
Making statements to detectives at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Yaba, Lagos, Vivien, Jessica, Bunmi and Chizoba Chiejine (couple) insisted that King set them ablaze with fuel provided from his car by one Rev. Sister Kelechi, who is currently in police net.
"Wearing only his boxers, Rev King assembled all of us and asked us to confess all the persons we have been sleeping with. When we said none, he flogged me with a rod until I recanted, naming all people I could think of in order to escape with my life," Chizoba, a graduate of Industrial Mathematics said.
Chizoba, who revealed that the first rite of membership in CPA was for converts to disown their parents and relations, added that all the girls Rev King set ablaze went through a similar experience, until they confessed even what they never did.
"He would have killed us if he had a gun. In his fury that night, he not only beat us with an aluminum window blind rail, but also with pincers and threw a set of knives at one of the girls, but she dodged it, and the knife pierced a leather seat," Chizoba, who had spent over four years in the church, said.
Explaining that King brought them outside the house to avoid a situation where combustible items in the house could cause the building to be razed, she stated that Ann's case was most critical because of the kind of night gown she wore.
He said that after setting them on fire, Rev King drove Ann to the hospital in his jeep, while Kosichukwu trailed behind him in another car, with the other victims. "But on getting to the hospital, he merely told the doctor they were victims of generating set fire. Otherwise, the doctor would not have attended to them."
Police sources told Daily Sun that Ann, one of the people Rev King set ablaze, has also conformed the incident. The lady house staff of Rev King, who allegedly brought the fuel also confirmed the incident, the source said.
Apart from physically assaulting his church members, Rev King was also accused of sleeping with female members, including married women. Chizoba alleged this in his statement to the police.
The victims, who jubilated at their escape, which they described as deliverance from bondage, expressed worry over their safety after the revelation, urging the police to provide them security. They warned the police not to fall for the pastor's wiles, since he is a karate expert as well as a Psychology graduate.
Police detectives disclosed that the pastor's gate and scene of the fire attack have been repainted.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Adebayo, has threatened to shut the CPA following the church members' acts of lawlessness and attacks on some residents of Ajao Estate believed to be instrumental to the arrest of their master.
In a telephone conversation, Adebayo confirmed the arrest of about six other members of the church, including two siblings of Rev. King over alleged misconduct at Ajao Estate and SCID, Panti. Policemen have also been drafted to the area to forestall a breakdown of law and order.