8th February, 2012
When a woman agreed to a suggestion by a church member to take her to a nurse for treatment to stop her bleeding after taking a family planing injection, she did not have any inkling that the decision would lead to the death of her six-year-old daughter.
It was learnt that while on the way to the hospital, the church member changed the plan, suggesting that they go to a man of God who would be able to solve the woman’s problem.
At the prophet’s church located in an uncompleted building at Oke-Ira, Ogba, which he also uses as his residence, the prophet was said to have told the woman that her five children needed deliverance. The woman was said to have gone to bring her children to the prophet who allegedly forced the deceased, Victoria Duff, and her elder brother, Joshua, 9, to drink olive oil in the process of exorcising demons from them.
The mother of the deceased, Mrs. Friday Duff, said the man of God told her that he had a revelation that she must do deliverance for all her five children and allegedly gave two of them an olive oil to drink, adding that immediately they drank the oil, they became unconscious and started rolling on the floor.
In her words: “When the pastor came out of his room he asked me to tell my children that the substance he would give them would trouble them, but that they should not panic. Immediately they drank it, they began rolling on the floor as though they were in a trance and soon went into deep sleep. Joshua was able to wake up at about 2:00 p.m. but Victoria failed to wake up. She was breathing but could not talk.
“When I noticed that there was danger, I became worried but the pastor rebuffed me. My persistence attracted his attention and he sent for a Fanta drink for her. I also demanded for palm oil for her to drink so as to neutralise the powers of whatever the pastor gave to her to drink.
“The pastor told me not to panic as he had treated similar cases in the past. But when it became obvious that things were getting out of hand, he suggested that the girl be taken to another house of worship nearby. This was around 3:00 a.m the following morning. The woman leader of the church told us that she could not handle the situation, and asked that we go to hospital. Moments later at the hospital, Victoria was pronounced dead,” she narrated amid sobs.
The father of the girl, Mr. Duff, described Prophet Joseph as a mechanic whom he has known for years. “This is a man that I had known for years when I was working as a driver. He was a mechanic and I had to connect him with my employer whose cars he started repairing,” he said.
Pastor Joseph was subsequently taken to Area G’ Police Station, Ogba, were he was immediately arrested and his case transferred to The State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, for further investigation.
Victoria’s remains has since been deposited at the Isolo General Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
Speaking on the circumstances that led to her daughter’s death, Mrs. Duff, a mother of five who had wanted to prevent any future pregnancy and thought that the best way to go was to adopt the family planning method, claimed that the family planning injections administered on her took a dangerous turn and she started bleeding profusely for several days.
She said a woman who overheard her husband reporting the matter to the women leader in their church at Ogba, Lagos, later called her aside and told her that she would take her to a nurse who specialises in stopping blood flow.
Mrs. Duff said that while on their way to the nurse on the appointed date, the woman changed her mind and told her that rather than go to the nurse’s house, they should see a powerful man of God, who possesses power to stop blood flow within a twinkle of an eye.
At the pastor’s church, the troubled mother of five narrated her ordeal to the man of God, and was charged N38, 000 but finally settled at N25, 000. She said she paid the money after which the man of God told her that he had a revelation that she must do ‘deliverance anointing’ for all her children.
—Jamiu Yisa