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Police arrest pastor for rape in Cross River

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Murder suspect arrested after five months on the run

The police in Cross River State has arrested one Pastor Hosanna Okoi for raping a lady and threatening to kill her with a gun if she tells anybody what transpired between them.

Okoi, who was paraded by the police command on Thursday, is said to be the pastor in charge of the Gate of Testimony Church.

A 400 level medical student of the University of Calabar, Nnamdi Ikezue, was also paraded, after he was arrested with arms and a soldier’s uniform.

Ikezue, who confessed that he was a cultist and was using a locally-made pistol to protect himself, was paraded alongside twenty-three other suspected who were arrested for different Crimes, including nine for alleged involvement in armed robbery.

Speaking during the parade of the suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Austin Agbonlahor, said Okoi, who claimed that his church was located in Sierra Leone, was arrested after a lady reported to the police that a pastor, who was supposed to pray for her, allegedly raped her and threatened her with a gun not to report the incident.

Okoi, denied the lady’s claim, saying he took her to a wedding and later a pub.

Read also: 7 arraigned for allegedly attacking policemen, setting vehicles ablaze

He said: “I am a Nigerian, but I am the pastor of the Gate of Testimony Church based in Sierra Leone. I came to Nigeria and I met the lady, who said she was going to a wedding.

“I did not know her from Adam, but I offered to take her there and gave her N500 to drink water. Later, we met at a pub and we drank and that was all that happened. I did not take her to anywhere and I don’t know why she decided to frame me up.”

Narrating his own story, Ikezue said: “I am having the army uniform because I was at the Nigerian Military School, Zaria, before I got admission into the University of Calabar to study Medicine and Surgery in 2014.

“I am a cultist and I still use the military uniform and my gun, which I acquired to protect myself.”

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