Detectives at the Zone 5 Police headquarters in Benin, Edo State, have
detained the pastor of a popular pentecostal church (names withheld)
over an alleged murder of his wife in Uromi town, Esan North-East Local
Government Area of the state.
The pastor, identified as
Kingsley Amayo, was arrested with three other pastors of the church in
connection with the death his wife, Mrs. Faith Amayo, 38, after the
woman’s family wrote a petition, alleging questionable circumstances
surrounding the death of their daughter.
Elder brother of the
deceased, Engineer Fidelis Evbuomwan, who spoke with journalists in
Benin, disclosed that the deceased who was yet to have a child was
properly married to Pastor Kingsley Amayo in 2011.
He said his
bereaved family had to instruct their lawyer to initiate a petition when
their in-law, Pastor Kingsley Amayo gave conflicting accounts of how
his wife died in an accident he was also involved.
Evbuomwan
explained that on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, Pastor Kingsley Amayo had
through his elder brother, one Chief Iso, informed the family that their
daughter, Mrs Faith Amayo, had died in a motor accident at Ujogba while
her husband Pastor Kingsley Amayo was driving her to Benin City.
According
to Engineer Evbuomwan, their findings revealed that no case of accident
was recorded at Ujogba nor reported at Ekpoma Police Division in charge
of the area that fateful day. They appealed to the concerned
authorities to ensure that justice prevailed
According to him, “On
Tuesday, July 26, 2016, Pastor Kingsley Amayo had through his elder
brother, one Chief Iso, informed the family that their daughter, Mrs
Faith Amayo, had died in a motor accident at Ujogba, while her husband,
Pastor Kingsley Amayo, was driving her to Benin City.”
Evbuomwan
appealed to the police to unravel the location of the accident, the
other vehicle allegedly involved in the head-on collision with Pastor
Amayo’s Sienna car, who rescued them and the hospital where his sister
was pronounced dead, who embalmed her corpse before she was taken to
mortuary in Uromi and why was it not reported to the police or wait for
her family members to see her?
The Zonal Public Relations Officer
(ZPRO) DSP Emeka Iheanacho, explained that the discrepancies in the
report made to the police on the death of the woman informed the
investigation.
He said a case of motor accident was reported at
Ekpoma Police Division by the pastor while the family of the deceased
wrote a petition, alleging murder to the Assistant Inspector-General of
Police in the zone.
“The matter was reported at the Edo State
Command where initially they were investigating a fatal motor accident,
before the family of the late woman, Mrs Faith Amayo initiated a
petition to the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police
alleging a foul play.
“So the petition before AIG is from the
family of the deceased where they suspected that the husband must have
used the woman for ritual.
“So, that is the matter we are
investigating presently”, he said, expressing confidence in the ability
of the investigating team to unravel the circumstances of the woman’s
death.