A 45-year-old pastor known only as Lucky, affiliated with a New Generation Church, has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Ihuaje community, Ahoada East Local Government Area, Rivers State.
The arrest was carried out by members of a local security group, the ONELGA Security Planning and Advisory Committee (OSPAC).
The OSPAC Commander for Ahoada East, Precious Ihuruzu, led the team to the community following reports of the incident, apprehended the suspect, and handed him over to the Ahoada Police Division for further investigation.
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Dennis Otobo, a representative of the Association Against Child Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, confirmed receiving information about the case from the gender desk of the State Ministry of Health.
Otobo said: “In the course of my investigation, I got to know that one Pastor Lucky who is also proprietor of a group of schools in Ihuaje community in Ahoada East has been having sexual affairs with a 10-year-old girl in his care.
“This got to the knowledge of the parents. When the parents visited her on that Saturday in the Pastor’s house, the girl now informed them of what she has been going through. That anytime he had affairs with her, he would give her N500 to keep quiet.
“Her parents immediately took the girl to the hospital where they did preliminary investigation. On that level, I decided to call the Divisional Police Officer for assistance and arrest.
“It was in the evening that the DPO told me that they should come on Sunday and that he was going to handle the case professionally. Truly he did that because as we are talking, the man (pastor) is in Ahoada Police station, Ahoada East”.
