Why I starved, chained my son – Celestial Church Pastor Francis

The 40-year-old pastor was apprehended
by the police from the Onipanu division on Sunday at his church – CCC,
Key of Joy Parish – in Ajibawo, Atan, in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local
Government Area of Ogun State.

Police sources told PUNCH Metro that Francis might be charged with attempted murder, among other offences, after the completion of investigation.

“The pastor may be charged with attempted murder. His action was capable of killing the boy,” one of the sources said.

Our correspondent had reported that
Francis chained his son, Korede, to the altar in the church for more
than a month and starved him until he went into a coma in an attempt to
cast out the supposed spirit that made the boy to steal.

Korede was, however, rescued on Friday
during a joint operation by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
and the police, after receiving a tip-off from residents of the area.

Korede’s stepmother, Kehinde, had also been arrested for allegedly aiding the cruelty meted out to the boy.

Korede, who said he aspired to be a doctor, had blamed his father for his stealing habit.

“It is true that I stole a pot of soup
and a bowl of eba in our house. I also stole in the neighbourhood. My
father’s inability to give money to my stepmother for the upkeep of the
family caused it. When I was chained, my father and stepmother fed me
twice a day. Some days, I was not given any food. I want to go back to
school because I want to be a doctor in the future. I do not want to go
back to my father’s house,” Korede had said.

Francis, a father of five who hails from
Benin Republic, confessed to the act in his statement to the police,
adding that Korede’s mother was late.

He said, “I was ordained a pastor in the
CCC in 2012. I had divorced two wives, including Korede’s mother,
Maria; she is late now. She had four children for me – two boys and two
girls – before she divorced me in 2007 after she gave birth to Korede. I
chained Korede because he is possessed. An evil spirit makes him to
steal. He needs deliverance. His siblings are not living with me.”

A resident, who identified himself only
as Elijah, said Francis had been warned on several occasions against
unleashing violence on the victim.

He said, “His father has been chaining
him for the past six months. He would chain him for hours and release
him. His grouse is that Korede steals and runs away from home and he
thinks a spirit is controlling the child. He once took him to a river in
chains for deliverance.”

The Ogun State police spokesperson, SP
Muyiwa Adejobi, said the case had been transferred to the child labour
unit of the command for investigation.

“The case has been transferred to the
Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Labour Unit of the command for
necessary investigation and actions as directed by the Assistant
Inspector-General of Police in charge of zone 2, AIG Abdulmajid Ali,” he
said.