The Edo State Police Command has paraded 26 suspected criminals, including a pastor, identified as Philips Ogbebor, for allegedly sodomising a 20-year-old male member of his church (names withheld).
The police alleged that the pastor also threatened that his victim would die if he ever revealed the encounter to other people.
The state police Commissioner, Folusho Adebanjo, said the arrest of the pastor and other suspected criminals that were paraded on Wednesday, signalled the commitment of the police to ridding the state of criminals.
He said, “The war against criminality is relentlessly being waged against men of the underworld. The command is not leaving any stone unturned as regards crime in Edo state. This man, who claimed to be a pastor, defiled a young person.
“Another thing that is so common here is this defilement. You see very old men defiling young girls of five years, two years, and so on. We are not going to tolerate these and all cases of rape.”
The command also paraded two suspected cultists, seven suspected pipeline vandals and operators of illegal refineries and two suspected armed robbers, from whom a Toyota Camry was recovered.
Other suspects paraded were a man who allegedly demanded N20m ransom and three others who were said to be in possession of firearms without license.
A downcast Ogbebor, however, declined to speak on the allegation against him. He said, “God will judge, go and talk to others.”
However, his alleged victim said, “I told him I have never done it when we did it the first time. After the second time, I decided to stop it because it was paining me. But he forced me to take an oath that if I ever told anyone, I would die.”
