There was pandemonium at the Celestial Church of Christ, Alapata area of Modakeke in Ife East Local Government Area of Osun, when some members of the church pounced on a prophet, Oluwaseun Osilewe, beating him mercilessly for allegedly carting away their phones and other personal belongings during a vigil held in the church.
Our correspondent gathered that the church members had attended the vigil organised by the pastor in charge of the parish (names withheld), who had asked Prophet Osilewe to preside over the vigil programme.
It was learnt that the head pastor had, during a Sunday service held before the vigil, introduced Osilewe to the congregation, saying that he was a prophet in a branch of the Celestial Church in Lagos and had visited the parish on a holiday before returning to Lagos.
“Unknown to our head pastor, Osilewe was not a prophet in any of the churches in Lagos; in fact, he is a notorious thief, who pretended to be a prophet to rob us,” a member of the church, Elijah Abayomi, whose phone was among those allegedly stolen by the fake prophet, told our correspondent.
Osilewe had allegedly stolen the church members’ phones and chargers while they were sleeping in the early hours of the morning, after the vigil.
The affected members got wind of the theft after the vigil ended around 4:00am and reported to the head pastor. By then, Osilewe was said to have fled the church with the stolen items.
But luck ran out on him as he was caught by a member of the church few days after the incident.
The suspect was said to have been beaten to a pulp before he was handed over to the police in the Modakeke Division.
Upon conclusion of investigation, the police dragged Osilewe before a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Modakeke on Wednesday on a five-count-charge of stealing.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Emmanuel Abdullahi, told the court that the accused committed the offence on July 8, 2017 around 2:00 am at the Celestial Church of Christ Alapata Area, Modakeke.
Abdullahi said that the 32-year-old fake prophet entered into the church and stole four mobile phones, including an iPhone, a Tecno1701 handset, a Samsung phone and one Infinix handset.
Other items alleged to have been stolen by Osilewe are: one power bank and phone charger belonging to the members of the church identified as Bukola Babatunde, Adeola Koledoye, Abayomi Elijah and Akeem Awojori.
The stolen items were valued at N340, 500.
The alleged offence, the police prosecutor argued, was contrary to Section 383 and punishable under Sections 390 (9), and 415 of the Criminal Code Cap 34 Vol 11, Laws of Osun, 2003.
But Osilewe pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
His counsel, Mr. Ben Adiereje, applied for his bail in liberal terms, promising that the accused would not abuse the bail if granted.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor objected to the bail application of the accused on the ground that the police were still making efforts to retrieve one of the stolen phones that Osilewe had allegedly sold off.
According to Abdullahi, “The accused sold an iPhone of N250, 000 for N85,000.”
The prosecutor further informed the court that the accused came to Modakeke from Lagos with no traceable address.
He further pleaded with the court to deny Osilewe bail, saying granting him the privilege would jeopardise police efforts at retrieving the phone he had allegedly sold off.
But Magistrate Iyabo Salami overruled the prosecutor’s objections and granted the accused bail in the sum of N150, 000, with two sureties in like amount.
Salami added that the sureties must swear to an affidavit of means, reside within the court’s jurisdiction, present three years tax clearance certificate as well as produce credible form of identification.
Meanwhile, Osilewe could not meet the conditions for his bail and he was whisked away to Ile-Ife prison.
