The pastor of a new generation church in Makurdi and an alleged usher in his church—whose names have been withheld—shortly avoided death over the weekend when they were battered to death by young people from Kanshio’s New Layout neighborhood on the outskirts of Makurdi town over the purported disappearance of a young man’s genital.
According to an eyewitness, a young man on Saturday night caused a disturbance, accusing someone else of taking his genitalia. The alarm drew the attention of onlookers and neighbors, who approached the suspect and beat him until he was unconscious.
“We suspect that he told the mob that his pastor had asked him to steal someone’s pennis and bring it to him,” he said, realizing that they might kill him.
Then he was instructed to guide the crowd to the pastor’s residence. The pastor was taken from his family and given the beating of his life when they arrived.
“The young man was already completely nude, and if the police hadn’t arrived in a timely manner, they would have both been killed. Instead, they were spirited off to the ‘B Division’ Police Station.
It was discovered at the police station that there had been a false alarm and that nobody had actually lost their genitalia. Without a reason, the young man and the pastor would have been killed.
In the meantime, one of the people who arrested the pastor was questioning his purported usher, who was already completely nude, in a video that went viral on social media, showing the pastor appearing bewildered and defenseless.
Superintendent Catherine Anene, the Police Public Relations Officer, reacted to the news by saying, “I met the people Sunday morning at ‘B Division,’ but when they narrated the story, it was pathetic.”
“When someone sounded the alarm, a gang of young people who were unaware of the events started torturing innocent victims. This is awful and dehumanizing. They claimed that a young male reported genital organ theft. The young man grabbed the nearest person and beat him until he confessed and mentioned his pastor as the one who sent him, thinking the pastor would show up and save him.
“The young people also beat up the same pastor.” When the police learned about it, they were able to save them. Unfortunately, there isn’t a shred of truth in this. Since the beginning of these claims, it has never been established, and complainants are typically counseled and informed that there is nothing wrong with them.
The PPRO stated that although there had been no arrests, the situation was still being investigated.