By Izunna Okafor, Awka

A woman, identified as Mrs. Okoli is currently in trouble in Anambra State over the tragic death of their 12-year-old child she handed over to her pastor without the consent of her husband.

The incident happened at Umudike Village in Ukpor, Nnewi South Local Government Area of the State, where the woman and her husband were said to have hailed from.

This reporter, Izunna Okafor, gathered that the child, named Chidozie Okoli, was tortured to death by a Pastor of the Christ Holy Church (popularly known as Odozi Obodo) who resided with him in Mbanọ, Imo State, where his ‘Deliverance Ministry’ is located, and which was also the place where the mother of the child took him to him without the notice and the consent of her husband, after she claimed a pastor saw a vision and prophesied to her to do so.

Recounting his ordeal, the father of the child, Mr. Marcel Okoli, said the drama began barely two years ago, when his wife, after saying she was going to a church program with the child, came back without him.

According to him, when he asked her the whereabouts of the child, the woman simply told him that she had handed him over to their pastor to live with him. He said after scolding at her to go and bring back the child, which she refused, he also requested her to give him the phone number of the Pastor so that he would communicate with him, and which she also refused to do, telling him that the child was in the safe hand of the ‘Man of God’, her Pastor.

Mr. Okoli said this struggle lasted for about two year and he never saw his child visit home, even on Christmas period, during the holidays or other seasons in the year. He lamented about how disrespectful his wife is, to the point that she takes decisions on her own concerning the family and carries them out without his notice, only for him to be seeing the effects or hearing about them later and even from outsiders.

He recalled how he came back recently to meet crowd partying noisily with DJ in his compound, to his greatest surprised, only to be informed later by someone that it was a birthday party of one of his daughters, as was organized by his wife.

Mr. Okoli said it was about 5.am the following morning after the said birthday party, that he started hearing his wife crying after answering some calls, while one of the daughters also joined her.

“When I heard the cry, I came out from my room to know what was happening, only to be informed by my daughter that Chidozie my son is dead. I mean the boy my wife handed over to pastor to live with him in Imo State.

“Full of surprise and shock, I asked my daughter what happened to him, and she said the boy was accused of stealing something, and then they started beating him to the extent that he became unconscious, and before they could rush him to the hospital, he died on the way,” he said (in Igbo language).

He said his wife was there watching him ask those questions but ignored him and never uttered a word.

Continuing in his narration, he said he immediately put calls across to some of his brothers living nearby to come and hear such a strange story, whom, he said, when they came, suggested that he convened kindred meeting at his compound at 12.noon that day, which he did and immediately sent messages across to all his kinsmen.

Going further, he said at about 11.am that day, after his daughter rushed out of the compound answering call, she came back later and opened the compound gate wide, while a car came in with a reverse drive.

His words: “As the car parked, a man alighted from it and walked straight to me, attempting to kneel down. I was holding him up, thinking he was a person who came to commiserate with us over the demise of our son, probably having heard it.

“And the man started telling me that he was sorry, that he was the Pastor who lived with my son, Chidozie. As he was saying that, I then asked him the whereabouts of that my son now, and he told me that the boy is dead, and that it was his corpse that he brought back to me, which he said was inside the car.

“When he said that, I was like You mean you brought back the corpse of my son to me. Imagine my son who left my compound alive is being brought back as a corpse by a man I don't even know. And there was nobody else that accompanied him on such a journey all the way from Imo State, not even one of his church members; none of his relatives or kinsmen or any other person was among in the vehicle, except him and the driver of the vehicle.

“After he narrated that, I decided not to even go and see the corpse inside the vehicle, and I told him to wait for my kinsmen who would converge for meeting at 12.noon in my house, so that we would understand what he was talking about. And he also told me he wanted to go and see my wife where she is, and which he did, while I continued to wait for my kinsmen, full of emotion.”

Mr. Okoli said after some time, the driver of the commercial vehicle the pastor came with became worried, saying that he wanted to back to continue his work; which after the Pastor explained to him about, he accepted and told them to bring down the corpse of the boy and keep it in the parlour, so that the driver could go, since nothing concerned him in the incident.

According to him, after the kindred meeting and deliberation on the incident, they reported to the nearby police station, after which the corpse was deposited to the mortuary.

He added that the mortuary attendants confirmed to them that the corpse was no longer fresh and that the boy didn't die that day but days ago, as there was also embalmment chemical already on his body, showing that he had been previously deposited in another mortuary, against the Pastor's claim that he died that morning.

Mr. Okoli, who said the Pastor had been detained at the State's Criminal Investigation Department (State CID) Awka, also said that his wife had been sent back to her father's by the community women, in line with the resolution of the villagers who said she would not be in the husband's house while the matter is being investigated.

He further revealed that the body of his dead son was full of varied degrees of wounds and injuries, even on one of his eyes that was badly injured, while a part of his toe is missing. He also said, upon interrogation, the Pastor confessed that he tied the boy with rope when he was flogging him, without knowing that he would die.

Mr. Okoli, who managed to control his emotions during this narration, imagined the kind of torment and agony his 12-year-old son must have passed through in the hand of the Pastor and the kind of underserved painful death he must have died in the process of the torment. He also wondered what it was that his son committed that could not be corrected or repaid, that the little boy was tied hands to back and subjected to such a torment and painful death.

“This was a child I cherished so much, that I even gave him both my Igbo and English names. And that is the boy they have just wasted for me just like that,” he lamented, while also seeking the intervention and assistance of the Anambra State government to get justice for the little boy whose corpse still lies in the mortuary.

Reacting to the incident, the Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Ify Obinabo, who utterly condemned the act, described it as abominable and punishable. She outrightly condemned the actions of the Pastor who beat the child to the point of unconsciousness and death, as well as the woman who took their collectively-owned child to a Pastor to live with him, without the consent of her husband. She also added that the woman should also be arrested and detained immediately.

Mrs. Obinabo, while consoling Mr. Okoli for the tragic death of his son, also vowed that the state government would surely follow the matter up and get justice for the little boy; even as she also cautioned people to always be mindful of the sham religiosity that abounds in the society today in order not to fall victim.

While the names of both the Pastor and the woman are yet to be ascertained, this reporter, Izunna Okafor, made attempts to get the reactions of the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer on the matter, which proved abortive, as his number was not connecting, as at the time of filing this report.

Stop using the pastor tag unnecessarily

EreluRoz:
Stop using the pastor tag unnecessarily

Should they use “JAGABAN” tag instead?


The killer is a PASTOR

Omo

What did I just finish reading 🥺

Did this actually happen or it's a movie

Like it can't be real life

If it's reality, I suspect the child is not the man's biological child or something was seriously wrong with the child and the wife got the pastor to help them take care of the child or else,Your wife took your son as in your blood son out to a pastor for over 2years and you could do nothing
How is that possible.

Useless woman.
Extremely useless woman.

Men need to understand this:

NEVER allow your wife to hold anyone in higher regards than you.

Not her pastor.
Not her father.
Not her boss.
Not her mother.
Nobody!

As far as your wife is concerned, YOU ARE GOD!

You must make this VERY clear in early in your relationship. Even before marriage. Your opinion supercedes the opinion of everyone else, including her own.

Break her devotion to EVERYTHING and EVERYONE but you.

You could be saving your child's life.

Imagine having a wife that could give your kid away like a spare bag of pure water. Even refusing to bring him back upon your request.

Men, your wife must submit TOTALLY to you. Not her pastor. Do this by making sure she misses a LOT of church services before and after the wedding.

When her pastor asks why, your wife's answer should be "Because my husband said so."

Otherwise, you'll have someone in your relationship with more influence on your relationship than both of you combined.

Pastor-worshipping wives are are more useless than a thousand Nigerian politicians.

I love Mr. Marcel Okoli.

He is a very SIMPle man!

The man is just giving a convenient excuse.
I bet all along he knew where that boy was,if not he must be the most foolish,cowardly and unfit parent in the world.Or maybe the boy was his step-son,so he cared less what happens to him.
You want to tell the gullibles that for 2 years you didn't set eyes or communicate with your biological child,a child,not an adult,and you didn't bother to find out where he is or involve family members to force your wife to produce him?Unbelievable and convenient to absolve himself of complicity.
At the same time ,the havoc some pastors cause is unbelievable and this perchant for mostly women to believe and obey what their pastors,a fellow human being,tell them to do,even if it sounds odd,is so surreal atimes you wonder if their brains were taken away

Dem take the pikin do ritual, the daughter and wife threw a party for the successful ritual.
What else do you want to hear?

seborrhic:
The man is just giving a convenient excuse.
I bet all along he knew where that boy was,if not he must be the most foolish,cowardly and unfit parent in the world.Or maybe the boy was his step-son,so he cared less what happens to him.
You want to tell the gullibles that for 2 years you didn't set eyes or communicate with your biological child,a child,not an adult,and you didn't bother to find out where he is or involve family members to force your wife to produce him?Unbelievable and convenient to absolve himself of complicity.
The havoc some pastors cause is unbelievable and this perchant for mostly women to believe and obey what their pastors tell them is so surreal atimes you wonder if their brains were taken away

Don't mind the useless jobless dog.
Your wife took your child out but didn't bring him back. You didn't gather kinsmen nor report to Police for a whole 2 years. Why do that after the boy died?
Seems he does nothing for a living and the woman feeds him.
So, he has no say in the house. The boy was used for rituals by the daughter and his wife. The daughter even communicates with the man on Phone but he doesn't even know the man's name and identity, not to talk of his phone number.
A very useless fool!

Ogiame:
Should they use “JAGABAN” tag instead?


The killer is a PASTOR

What is the Pastor's name?
You went to his Church and saw him preaching? It is a cover up.

Very annoying story...
For 2 years the man couldn't call that his kindred meeting to get the child back
For 2 years he never informed the police
For 2 years the wife continued living peacefully in your compound without your son
All the things he did within one day after the boy's death he could have done within the 2 years the boy was in slave camp and the boy would still be alive today

Being the breadwinner doesn't make the woman the head of household...He just wasted the poor boy

I Hope the father is consoled

The husband too is very useless your wife take your chile away and you can not report her to police that day

Anambra wan use work kill mrs ibinabo, she haven't finished with the case of that wicked lady lawyer and now this,seems she's more in the news than the state governor.

> CHIDOZIE OKOLI was tortured to DEATH by a Renowned Pastor(ODOZI OBD .,

The absolute Hobbesian state of Alaigbo.


Terrible people .

This needs to get to front page

Nlfpmod
Seun
Lalasticlala
Mynd44

Worshippers should be careful in choosing where they worship these days. They need to avoid worshipping under fake pastors

We are passing across these messages through films. Check my bio to find one of them. This is the end times.

Namaster:
Useless woman.
Extremely useless woman.

Men need to understand this:

NEVER allow your wife to hold anyone in higher regards than you.

Not her pastor.
Not her father.
Not her boss.
Not her mother.
Nobody!

As far as your wife is concerned, YOU ARE GOD!

You must make this VERY clear in early in your relationship. Even before marriage. Your opinion supercedes the opinion of everyone else, including her own.

Break her devotion to EVERYTHING and EVERYONE but you.

You could be saving your child's life.

Imagine having a wife that could give your kid away like a spare bag of pure water. Even refusing to bring him back upon your request.

Men, your wife must submit TOTALLY to you. Not her pastor. Do this by making sure she misses a LOT of church services before and after the wedding.

When her pastor asks why, your wife's answer should be "Because my husband said so."

Otherwise, you'll have someone in your relationship with more influence on your relationship than both of you combined.

Pastor-worshipping wives are are more useless than a thousand Nigerian politicians.

Seconded! Sound the trumpet 🎺 louder.
It's unfortunate that many men are still making that grievous mistake of allowing their wives to be close to pastors.

I blame the man for the death of his son. I wonder how your son will stay with a stranger fit more than a year, you knew nothing about his welfare The story sounds so funny.

The man is a compound SIMple fool, but fear woman. Women can use any means including diabolic way to humble their husbands. A woman in my former street turned his once agile, strong and healthy man into pure vegetable, ask brother Samson if you doubt me.

All I know is that the father of the boy is stupid.very very stupid.e get why