Of late, as Nigeria's economic woes have deepened, many hapless citizens have turned to religion in search of solutions to their problems and many clergymen have taken advantage of this. It is now common for religious leaders to ask members of the public to provide them with large sums of money so they can pray for them to get their problems solved.
Over the weekend, the suspects, Obi Ejike from Ubaho, Okija in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State; Kuku Mary from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State; Oluwakemi Joy from Lagos State; Nwosu Chizoba, Umunze from Anambra State and Peter Uchechi from Ebonyi State, were nabbed at the Holy Ghost Park. Police swooped following a brawl between them on the sharing formula of their booty, which attracted the attention of a patrol team.
Syndicate ring leader, Mr Uchechi, revealed that they were foot soldiers recruited by the handler, who remains behind the scene to give contacts of church/ministry owners, who have struck a deal with him to bring people during crusade for fake testimonies. He added that they operate in all the states nationwide.
Mr Uchechi said: "Once our boss calls, he will give us the contact of the church owner. “When we arrive, we will go through the stories with the prophet or church owner before the crusade starts.
"The idea is for the prophet to be familiar and abreast with the story. When it is the prophetic hour, the prophet will bring us out from the crowd to the pulpit and thereafter, the prophet, who then pretends to be praying, will touch us and we will fall down."
He added that the prophet will then reveal their life challenges, which supposedly brought them to the church for a miracle and they will confirm the story. At that point, the congregation will erupt in joy not knowing that all they were witnessing was a written script meant to attract patronage and membership to the church.
“After the prophetic hour, offering time will follow, which is well designed to rake in money during offering. Some people will donate their cars, write cheques and make pledges.
There are a lot of problems in the society, so people are looking for quick fix. We were at the bus stop around the P&T axis in Enugu, when police swooped on us after operating at a ministry at Emene, Enugu and were returning to Abuja when altercation broke out over sharing formula of the proceeds and the police arrested us,” Mr Uchechi added.
Confirming the arrest, police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu, revealed that manhunt for other fleeing accomplices have been launched. He called on the public to be wary of new generational churches that spring up at every 10-meter radius in a desperate bid to eke a living for themselves.
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