Judex Okoro, Calabar
Cross River State Police Command has arrested a pastor and a 400-level student of the University of Calabar for alleged involvement in rape and robbery.
While Okoi, who claimed to be a pastor was nabbed for raping a lady and threatening to kill her with a gun, Nnamdi, an undergraduate of Medicine and Surgery, was arrested with arms and has allegedly confessed to being a cultist and using a locally made pistol to ‘protect’ himself.
The two were among 25 suspects paraded by the police for various crimes, with nine of them caught while reportedly robbing in various locations across the state.
Commissioner of Police, Austen Agbonlahor, said Okoi, who claimed his church is in Sierra Leone, was arrested after a lady reported to the police that a pastor who was supposed to pray for her had raped her and threatened her with a gun not to report the incident.
Agbonlahor urged parents to monitor their wards, saying the police would do everything to ensure the society was devoid of criminals.
“We will continue to ensure we take out criminals from the society. This command has declared zero tolerance for crime and since I came in, we have been doing everything to make sure the state is crime-free.
“I want parents to monitor their children and wards in order to know what they are doing at every point in time,” the commissioner said.
In an interview, Okoi said he only took the lady, which he claimed was unknown to him, to a wedding and later to a drinking joint.
“I am a Nigerian but I am the pastor of Gate of Testimony based in Sierra Leone. I came to Nigeria and I met the lady who said she was going to a wedding. I did not know her from Adam, but I offered to take her there and gave her N500 to drink water.
“Later, we met at a joint and we drank and that is all that happened. I did not take her to anywhere and I don’t know why she decided to frame me up,” Okoi said.
Also, Nnamdi confessed he was a cultist and was using a locally made pistol to protect himself.
“I am having the army uniform because I was at the Nigerian Military School, Zaria before I got admission into the University of Calabar to study Medicine and Surgery in 2014. I am a cultist and I still use the military uniform and my gun which I acquired to protect myself,” he said.
He, however, accused devil for being behind his ordeal because, “at the level I am now, I am not supposed to be in the cult.”