A pastor in Ondo has been arrested and arraigned for his alleged role in the kidnapping of a toddler.
Emmanuel Chigozie Okpara is said to have conspired with a group of boys to kidnap 2-year-old Bolanle Olowokere.
Okpara has been taken before a Magistrate court sitting in Akure, the state capital, and was charged along with an accomplice, one Evelyn Jonathan, who is accused of kidnapping and possession of weapons.
The pastor, a resident cleric at the Believer’s Prayer Ministry in Imo, has denied knowledge of the crime.
He said:
” I never knew they wanted to kidnap the child because when we arrived in Akure I was inside the vehicle when they brought the baby and one of them brought out a gun and said this was a case of kidnapping and anybody who misbehaves would be shot and that was how it all started”.
The prosecutor, Zakari Ibrahim, however claimed that the pastor was complicit in the crime and that it was he who called the child’s parents to demand the payment of a N10 million ransom.
The case was adjourned till April 29, 2014.
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