BENIN CITY-Investigators at the Zone ‘5’ Police headquarters in Benin City have arrested four senior pastors of a popular Pentecostal church (name withheld) over alleged murder of a pastor’s wife in Uromi town, the administrative headquarters of Esan North-East Local government area of Edo State.
The pastors including the husband of the deceased woman Pastor Kingsley Amayo were arrested for the roles they allegedly played in the questionable circumstances surrounding the death of the woman, Mrs Faith Amayo, 38.
When our crime reporter visited the church state headquarters in Benin City yesterday an assistant pastor who pleaded anonymity stated that “l am skeletally aware of the arrest but only the Lagos head office can comment on it”.
Elder brother of the deceased woman Engineer Fidelis Evbuomwan disclosed that the deceased who was yet to have a child was properly married to Pastor Kingsley Amayo in 2011.
He stated that his bereaved family had to instruct their lawyer to initiate a petition when their in-law Pastor Kingsley Amayo gave conflicting accounts of how his wife died in an accident he was also involved.
He said that on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Pastor Kingsley Amayo had through his elder brother one Chief Iso informed the family that their daughter Mrs Faith Amayo had died in a motor accident at Ujogba while her husband Pastor Kingsley Amayo was driving her to Benin City.
He however appealed to the concerned authorities to ensure that justice prevails as their findings has revealed that no case of accident was neither recorded at Ujogba nor reported at Ekpoma Police Division in charge of the area that fateful day.
Amongst issues Engineer Evbuomwan wants to be unravelled are where did the accident occurred, where is the other vehicle alleged to have had head-on collision with pastor Amayo’s Sienna vehicle?, who rescued them to hospital where his sister was pronounced Brought-in-Dead (BID)? Who embalmed corpse before she was taken to mortuary in Uromi? And why was it not reported to the police of wait for her family members?
Contacted, elder brother of Pastor Kingsley Amayo when identified himself as Priest of Iso (Ohen-Iso) stated that “since my brother has been detained, I do not have the interest to talk to you”.
The Zonal Public Relations Officer (ZPRO) DSP Emeka Iheanacho stated that the discrepancies in reports made to the police on the death of the woman informed the investigation.
Though DSP Iheanacho did not mention when the police was notified, he however stated that a case of motor accident was reported at Ekpoma Police Division by the pastor as the deceased family wrote a petition of alleged murder to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in the zone.
“The matter was reported at the Edo State Command where initially they were investigating a fatal motor accident, before the family of the late woman, wife of the pastor Mrs Faith Amayo now initiated a petition to the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police alleging a foul play.
“So the petition before AIG is from the family of the deceased where they suspected that the husband most have used the woman for ritual.
“So, that is the matter we are investigating presently”. DSP Iheanacho stated.
He however expressed confidence in the thoroughness of the investigating team.
