A Prophet has admitted to the stage-managing of his church members’ kidnapping because he needed money badly. It was alleged that Prophet Godwin Ayenugha operated in connivance with some accomplices.
The 48-year-old father of five is the founder of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, the Gethesema Zion Church in Igbokoda area of Ondo State. He was said to have shared the proceeds of the operations with his accomplices.
A source close to the case now being investigated by the police said it all started when Ayenugha’s accomplices began an outreach to rich members of the community, promising that their problems were spiritual and would be a thing of the past if they joined the church.
The alleged tactic reportedly paid off as the church was soon bristling to the brim and “signs and wonder” happened on daily basis while word about the church got to neighbouring council areas where people, in search of miracle, also trooped to the place.
According to the source, sometime later, some elders of the church, allegedly at the prompting of the prophet, started picking on affluent members, one after the other, and sending text messages to them to announce that they will be kidnapped and, to avoid this, they should pay various sums of money.
The panicky members, it was learnt, would run to Ayenugha for counselling and he would volunteer to step into the matter by helping them in the negotiations with the kidnappers on how and where to pay ransom.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the alleged stage-managed kidnap business went on for a while and the prophet and his accomplices smiled to the bank.
Nemesis was said to have caught up with them when the alleged syndicate picked on a wealthy member of the church identified as Omosaye twice. Ayenugha was said to have told the victim earlier that he saw a vision that he (wealthy church member) would soon be kidnapped and that he needed to pray to avert it.
“The victim, who had been kidnapped sometime, last year, and regained his freedom after paying huge ransom, was soon, thereafter, sent another text message by the suspects”, Vanguard source said.
“The suspects informed the victim that they will be coming to kidnap him again and they threatened to kill him if they eventually succeeded in kidnapping him this time around. But that he can save his life by paying a certain amount of money. “The victim, however, informed the police which immediately swung into action and the owner of the phone used to send the message was traced and arrested. “The owner of the phone fingered the prophet and he was picked up”.
Speaking on the case, Ondo State Police Commissioner, Gbenga Adeyanju, told Sunday Vanguard, “The suspects were arrested through a network of intelligence gathering by detectives”. “On the receipt of the complaint, detectives from the command swung into action and, through intelligence gathering, arrested one Ibukun Adetigha and later arrested Prophet Godwin Ayenugha, the founder of a church in Igbokoda.
“The Techno handset that was used in sending the text message was recovered from them. Upon interrogation, the two suspects confessed to have sent the text message but denied their involvement in the abduction of the victim. “Prophet Godwin Ayenugha happened to be the spiritual father of the victim who claimed to have seen vision that the victim would be kidnapped”. In an interview, Ayenugha, who said he regretted his action, said he stage-managed the kidnap of his church members because he “needed money badly”.
His words, “l was broke and had nothing on me. So I asked lbukun to be sending text messages to some identified members of the church that kidnappers were coming to abduct them. “I regret my action but the devil pushed me into it. I first restricted the devil but when hunger crept in and I needed money badly, I succumbed to the devil. I am sorry for taking advantage of members of my congregation.
“We stage-managed everything to get some money from him because I know he is a rich member of my church. “ I had earlier informed the victim that he should be prayerful to avoid being kidnapped again. And because he believes in me, he gave me money in order to organise a prayer session for him.
“I am very close to the victim and I have been working and praying for him for some time but I was financially down and had to think of how to get money from him
“I asked one of my church members to text him and one other person to inform other members that we were coming to kidnap them. I knew they will come to me for spiritual assistance and I eventually collected N150, 000 from Omosaye and the other person paid N60, 000.”
“I did not have knowledge of his first kidnap because I was away to Cameroun but I intended to kidnap him to get cash because I needed money so badly to feed my family.” His alleged accomplice, Adetigha, admitted sending the text messages on the instruction of the prophet. Adetigha said he was given N25, 000 as his share from their last operation.
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