The Edo State Police Command on Wednesday arrested a pastor simply called ‘sharp sharp’ and two others for brutalising a 90-year-old woman, Adishetu Atairu, chief Imam of the community, and six others in Ofukpo-Ekperi, Estako Central Local Government of the state.

The treatment meted out to the people was captured in viral videos on WhatsApp and Facebook.

The spokesperson for the state Police Command, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, who confirmed the incident, said the suspects have been arrested and charged to court.

He said, “Yes, the incident is confirmed, the police are aware of it. The Pastor and one other person have been arrested and they are in police custody. The suspects have been charged to court.”

A resident of the community, Abu Buhari, said that on July 5, his stepmother, Atairu and others were dehumanised and assaulted by the pastor and his accomplices.

He said like his stepmom, the community Chief Imam and other residents were also abducted by ‘pastor sharp sharp’ in the middle of the night by gun-wielding men.

Accordingly, they were physically assaulted and were made to confess to crimes they knew nothing about.

He said, “On the fateful day, residents of my community went to bed as usual, only to be woken up by unknown, gun-wielding men. My stepmom and others were dragged before a waiting crowd and accused all of them of being witches and wizards. My stepmother was brutalised, humiliated and traumatised.

“The information I got was that the community youths who are more vigilantes initiated a move to offer prayer for the community to progress. However, the community were not in support of it because of the gangster method employed

“They went ahead to contact a Pastor Sharp Sharp whom I learnt charged them a fee. The youth said the pastor had been performing miracles in some areas, so they went against the community’s wish and brought the so-called pastor and started unleashing terror on the people.

“The pastor organised a crusade at midnight and brutalised those perceived as witches and wizards.

“According to the information that was available to me, the youths wrote the names of the people they claimed were witches and wizards and gave them to the pastor who in turn was calling them out during the crusade.

“When the pastor called the names, the youths would go to the person’s house in the dead of the night and forcefully abducted the person to the venue of the event and started assaulting and dehumanising the person.

“Like my stepmother, they stormed our house, abducted her despite the injury she sustained on her leg to the Pastor, they gave her a chair to sit down on because she is not too strong and because of her age but the pastor commanded that she must sit on the floor which she refused saying she committed no offence,” he added..

According to Buhari, after the dehumanisation, the pastor coerced them to pay fees ranging from N10,000 to N13,000 for miracle medicine.

He said he then reported the incident to the police who asked him to submit a petition on the incident, detailing what happened. He said after his petition the Pastor was arrested by the Police Area Command Office in Agenebode, Etsako East local government on July 17.

The Edo Muslims for Equity and Good Governance commended the Nigeria Police, and other security operatives for wading into the matter before it escalated.

The group coordinator, Sirajudeen Muhammad, assured everyone in Edo State and other parts of the world that there would be justice for those humiliated. (Courtesy, excluding headline, The PUNCH)

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