52 phones were picked up by a pastor after the Ibadan Crusade.
According to reports, the pastor informed his victims that he had been guided by God to travel from the Gambia to Ibadan for the crusade.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has learned that the cleric said that on the final day of the crusade, the Holy Spirit told him to instruct the crowd to hand over their phones, cash, and other valuables.
But it was said that he fled with such things.
The victims claimed that on the final day of the crusade, the pastor who had enticed them into three days of fasting and prayer, was nowhere to be found, despite their best efforts to find him.
Many widows had attended the crusade, according to a victim named Mrs Grace Akintola, since the pastor had promised to give each of them a bag of rice and money.
The ‘man of God’ reportedly promised to provide students who attended the rally with scholarships, according to the widow called Akintola.
“The pastor approached a lady in our area to assist him to gather widows and students and that he wanted to help us.
“Someone in my area invited me to the crusade. The crusader put on priest’s regalia. He even said he would buy a fully-furnished house for one of us.
“The pastor equally promised some of those who attended the crusade money, the kind of money that even politicians could not give.
“The last day of the crusade, he (pastor) sold a bottle of water for us at the rate of N4,800; he said that the water had been mixed with perfume and many people paid for it,” she stated.
Another victim, a University of Ibadan student who asked to remain anonymous, claimed that the preacher had given them instructions to fast for three days.
He claimed to have taken their phones, unaware to them that it was a ruse to get rid of their possessions, in order to keep them out of the way and free up their attention for prayer.
“He said no phone should ring during the programme and that was why he collected all of them.
“In fact, he snapped at a lady who stood up and wanted to take his photograph and seized the phone from her,” he said.
He added that on the last day of the crusade, the pastor said he wanted to go and rest at the hotel where he had lodged.
“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,” he stated.
Residents of the neighbourhood have declared the priest to be a wanted person, and posters with his name and image have been distributed to try and find him.
The post ’52 phones were picked up by the pastor after the Ibadan Crusade’ initially appeared on reubenabati
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