‘Visa to heaven’ Pastor hypnotised brainwashed our children, set them against us — Parents, victims lament
Some members of the Christ High Commission Church, Araromi-Ugbesi, in Omuo-Oke, Ekiti State, have narrated how the church’s founder, Noah Abraham, hypnotised, brainwashed and exploited them.
According to the Vanguard, the parents of the children the pastor has taken hostage in his Church said the pastor set their children against them, having forced thelm to withdraw from school.
A 27-year-old man, who was already working in an unnamed company where he was given an official vehicle, was asked to resign and kept in the camp without a specific mission.
One of the pastors in the church, who had a similar ordeal anonymously said: “The message then was purity. When I heard that message, that gave me the courage to say that I had found a place, not until things started going wrong.
“He told me that my wife, whom we have been married for over 30 years, has 21 evil spirits and I had to send her away.
“At the initial stage, I asked her to go. Later, I was asked to bring her back and made a lot of sacrifices which involved lots of money.
“He said she had a curse which will require me to remove with money. My three children were with him. My firstborn, a graduate of Ambrose Alli University, studied Human Physiology and was already working. He was asked to resign because an edifice was coming down from heaven.
“His son was also withdrawn from the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, along with other children. My daughter, who was an undergraduate student at the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, was asked to come down with my people in Kaduna. About 18 of us came down, celebrating that there was a programme coming on.
“After that, he said we all had curses for which we had to pay N310,000 each for remission.
“On August 25, 2022, my wife and I were sent packing from the camp. My children were not allowed to follow us. We were stripped naked, paid over N4 million and collected close to N3 million from my son.
“Later on, I was frustrated. My children were asked to run away. I lodged a complaint at Omuo Area Command Office which asked them to release my two children who were 16 and 19 years respectively.
The eldest who was 27 years then was asked to decide for himself because he was of age. I was frustrated with the whole situation.
“Not until recently that I was told that he has been arrested. I saw my children behaving strangely. Their names have been changed and they don’t want to come closer to me. I don’t know what has come into them. I won’t be surprised because I was in that bondage before God delivered me. I want the entire world to save my children.”
On her part, Abraham’s wife said: “Even when I complained to the police station, I was offered access to two of my three children, but on our way home, he called them and asked them to return, which they did.
“He is always telling us that we have different curses and evil spirits working against us. He would ask us to sell our property and bring the money to him. I have invested almost N7 million in the church and I am left with nothing. Even my children don’t want to see me, I don’t know what he did to them.”
Meanwhile, the choir coordinator of the church, Dare Ikuenayo, alleged that the cleric snatched and impregnated the mother of his three children.
Ikuenayo said: “I joined the church in Kabba, Kogi State, but one day, the pastor called me and notified me that my wife had a gift of prophecy that I should allow her to stay with him for a month and work for God which I obliged.
“Suddenly, I noticed that my wife was not even willing to see or talk to me. While I was trying to raise my eyebrows, the pastor announced in the church that he had taken my wife and no one could take her from him. I tried my best to no avail until he impregnated her and moved her into his house fully.”
Another old woman, who is the elder sister to Pastor Abraham, alleged that he took almost a million naira from her on different occasions on the account that he wanted to cleanse her of evil spirits.
Pastor Abraham’s wife, who staged a protest at the Ekiti State Police Command with other victims pleaded with the government and appropriate authorities to assist them in getting their children, wife and relatives out of the captivity of the pastor.
In her testimony, Mrs Mary Abraham said after they came together at Omuo-Ekiti for the aborted heavenly mission, her husband came in one night and asked her to move out because he wanted the wife of the choir coordinator to move in.
She said: “He said the present work in his hand requires the woman to be with him and that was how he forced me out and denied me access to my three children.
“He withdrew all of my children from school and made their lives miserable. I wept when I saw my son yesterday after the police brought him here. I am begging Nigerians to help me take my children from him.”
When contacted, the spokesman for the Ekiti State Police Command, DSP Sunday Abutu, said the investigation was ongoing in collaboration with NAPTIP, adding that the police would move to the next line of action.
The specific line of action has yet to be disclosed as at the time of filing this report.
