ALL the branches of Sotitobire Miracle Centre across Ondo State have been deserted after the razing of its headquarters and the General Overseer, Prophet Babatunde Alfa, remanded at the Olokuta Correctional Centre, Akure after one-year-old Gold Kolawole went missing at the headquarters branch over a month ago.
Uncertainty reigned over the church.
Reports said members may have been ‘defecting’ to other churches as the General Overseer spent Christmas and the New Year day in prison. Many of the members with church stickers on their vehicles and bands on their wrists, it was learnt, have been removing them. Irate youths had set the headquarters branch ablaze and went further to burn down the Ajipowo branch same day to show their displeasure over the missing boy’s case. The development forced the police to deploy to the razed churches and the private residence of the clergyman after it was equally attacked and several vehicles damaged. While the Department of State Service, DSS, which arrested Alfa, took the glory for doing something over the missing boy’s case, the police, which was accused of foot-dragging, arraigned 13 suspected arsonists in court in connection with the razed churches.
Prison walk
Then the DSS, in a
surprise move, arraigned the clergyman in the Magistrate Court. The court was
jam-packed on arraignment day as members of the church trooped out to give
their prophet moral support.
Their hope that Alfa would be granted bail
was, however, dashed. Even the prophet, who was expecting that he would be released
on bail, burst into tears as Magistrate Charity Adeyanju ordered that he be
remanded in prison custody. His church members also could not hold their tears
as they wept profusely seeing their prophet being pushed into the Black Maria
by prison wardens. It was a pitiable sight as the church members and the
clergyman wept like a baby. While arraigning the General Overseer and six
children teachers of Sotitobire Miracle Centre in court, the DSS accused them
of conspiracy to kidnap and aiding kidnapping of Gold during a Sunday service
at the headquarters of the church in Oshinle area of the state capital on
November 10. The six children teachers are Omodara Olayinka, Margaret Oyebola,
Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo, Esther Kayode and Peter Anjorin. Peter
Anjorin was separately accused by the prosecutor of destroying evidence by
secretly taking away evidence that would have aided speedy investigation of the
missing child. The charge against Anjorin read, “That on the 10th day of
December 2019 at about 2:00 pm at the premises of the Department of State
Service, Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State in the Akure Magisterial District, you did
destroy evidence by secretly taking away vital evidence that would have aided
speedy investigation in respect of the missing child (Gold Eninlaloluwa
Kolawole) and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under
Section 123 of Criminal Code, Cap 37, Vol. I Laws of Ondo State 2006.” The
accused persons were brought to the court by operatives of the DSS around 9am
in a white bus marked AKR – 54-AM. The prosecutor, Joseph Dada, said the
offence was contrary to and punishable under Section 5(i) of the Ondo State
Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Abduction Law, 2010 as well as under Section 516 of
Criminal Code, Cap 37, Volume I Laws of Ondo State 2006. The charge sheet for
all the suspects read, “That you Prophet Alfa Babatunde ’m’, Omodara Olayinka
’f’, Margaret Oyebola ‘f’, Grace Ogunjobi ‘f’, Egunjobi Motunrayo ’f’, Esther
Kayode ’f’, Peter Anjorin ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 10th day of
November 2019 at about 11:45 am at Sotitobire Praising Chapel, No. 48,
Solagbade Street, Oshinle Quarters, Akure, Ondo State in the Akure Magisterial
District, did conspire together to commit felony to wit: Kidnapping, and
thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of
Criminal Code, Cap 37, Vol. I Laws of Ondo State 2006″. Trial Magistrate
Adeyanju, after listening to the arguments of the prosecutor and counsel to the
defendants, Olusola Oke, ruled that she did not have the jurisdiction to try
the alleged offences. She then said that the accused persons be remanded in
prison custody pending the conclusion of investigation and arraignment at the
High Court and adjourned the case till January 17, 2020. Recall that the mother
of the missing boy, Modupe Kolawole, had taken him to the church while looking
for miracle but ended up losing him to suspected kidnappers. Modupe said she
dropped the son at the church children section only to come back to discover
that he had disappeared without trace since November 10. Speaking after the
court session, Oke said, “The prosecution presented two contradictory
positions. There was an application filed where they alleged that the General
Overseer confessed to the allegation of kidnapping. “We challenged them to
present the evidence of his confession but they did not bring something like
that to court. “Also, contrary to what we heard in the public domain about
kidnapping, they were charged with conspiracy and aiding kidnapping. These are
two different situations because if he actually kidnapped, it would be brought
to the public that he kidnapped but apparently they have nothing against him.
“We believe that if the man indeed is culpable, he should be punished. But at
the same time, there is no need to crucify somebody who has done no wrong.”
Also, 13 suspected persons were ordered to be remanded at the Olokuta
Correctional Center by an Akure Magistrate’s Court for their alleged
involvement in the killing of a policeman and the razing of Sotitobire Miracle
Centre. They were arraigned on six count charges of murder, arson, theft and
vandalism. The prosecutor, ASP Moses Adeosun, prayed that the defendants be
remanded in prison pending investigation into the matter. Ooni intervention in
a related development, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, and his
Olori, Naomi, are reported to have waded into the case of the missing boy. The
mother of the boy confirmed this to Sunday to our correspondence.
“It is true that the Kabiyesi, the Ooni of Ife, and the wife invited us to the palace in lfe”, Modupe Kolawole said. “We briefed the Kabiyesi and the Olori on how the incident happened over a month ago. “They sympathized with us and promised to get back to us”.
Hunger strike
Meanwhile, family sources said the embattled clergyman has turned the Olokuta Correctional Centre to a crusade ground and reportedly winning souls for Christ in the prison. The sources said Alfa organised programmes for the prison inmates during Christmas and New Year day, thereby leading many of them to Christ.
They denied a report that the prophet took ill following alleged hunger strike.
Source: Vanguard