Children blame pastor for mother’s disappearance

The children of a 53-year-old woman, Mrs. Christiana Sepe, say they suspect foul play in the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of their mother who has been missing since July 26 at a prayer ground in Oke-Agelu, Iseyin, in the Ado-Awaye area of Oyo State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that a pastor of a white garment church in the Agbado area of Ogun State, Segun Ogunriade, aka Asirimalaika, had led about 30 church members, including Sepe, to the prayer ground on Friday, July 24.

It was gathered that the worshippers left the prayer ground on Sunday around 8am in a 20-seater bus, while the pastor was working on his faulty car in Agelu.

They were said to have realised that the woman was missing 30 minutes into the journey.

Our correspondent learnt that the driver of the bus called Asirimalaika on the telephone to notify him of the development. The pastor was said to have promised to search for Sepe after he was through with his vehicle, He was said to have done so to no avail.

It was learnt that the woman’s bag was found at the spot four days after when her daughter and two others went to search for her.

One of her children, Funke Bello, said neither Asirimalaika nor the church members informed them of their mother’s missing until the following day (Monday) when her younger sister came to visit her (the mother).

Bello said, “She has been attending the church since 2012, but this is the first time she would follow them to that prayer ground. They contributed N2,000 each to hire a bus for the journey.

“It was my sister, who went to visit her on Monday, that discovered that she did not come back. Others came back on Sunday, but they did not tell us that she was missing. We went to the church to complain. The church members begged us not to let other people know and assured us that our mother would come back.”

Bello’s sister, Maria Nasiru, said the pastor’s indifference to the plight of their mother made them suspect that he had knowledge of her whereabouts.

She said, “When we met with the pastor, He told us that she had been found and assured us that she would come back on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he told us that she would be back by 8pm. Members of the church with whom she went to Oke-Agelu gave different accounts.

“We asked the pastor to follow us to the prayer ground to search for her, but he refused. On Thursday, my sister, her husband and a member of the church travelled to the place, but they only saw her bag at a corner. They searched the whole community, but did not find her. 

The residents of that community said they did not see our mother. People have been telling us that the pastor knew her whereabouts.”

Nasiru said the case was reported at the Agbado Police Division, adding that Asirimalaika was only arrested after a community leader, identified simply as Asiwaju, intervened.

“When we reported at the Agbado police station, we were told that he had come to report the case. It was after Asiwaju called the police station that he was arrested. But he was released shortly after,” she said.

One of the women, who also attended the prayer, Filicia, said she knew nothing about Sepe’s whereabouts.

Another church member, who declined to give her name, said, “We all sat at the same place, but we did not know how she got missing.”

The 44-year-old pastor, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said he was making efforts towards finding the woman, adding that the woman’s children were impatient.

He said, “It was 30 minutes after they left on Sunday that the driver of the bus they chattered called me and said a woman was missing. I told him that I would check around and I did, but she was not there. I went back on Monday when I did not find her. On Tuesday, I called the pastor at the prayer ground and he said three persons came to beg for transport fare. I thought the woman might be among them.

“I also sent a member to follow them to the place because I was already fasting and praying on the matter. I was there last week and I reported at the Ado-Awaye Police Station. Mama will come back.”

The Ogun State Police spokesperson, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police division lacked the jurisdiction to act on the case.

He said, “Both the pastor and the missing woman live in the same community. The case was reported at the station and they were advised to report at a police station around where the woman got missing. If the police in Oyo State need our assistance in the course of their investigation, we are ready.”