Pastor Oprite Amakiri, the General Overseer of Agape Baptist Church, has been arrested and detained by the police for allegedly raping a teenager.

Amakiri, during one of his services, had explained to his somewhat 200 members that he had been battling waist pain for the past two years and now God had finally told him that a girl between the age of 12 and 18 years old would be needed to massage his waist for him to be healed.

Having taken his ‘prophecy’ with a naive mind and complete faith in his doctrine, one member of the congregation, the elder sister to the victim offered her 18-year-old sister for the massage job.

Amakiri took up the offer and paid a visit to the home of his victim’s sister, where they both resided, to get massaged. Noticing that the owner of the house (victim’s sister), who is a roadside trader, had gone to do her petty trading, the father of four launched his attack on the second day.

It was after the fourth incident and the refusal of the victim to be violated once again that led to the pastor’s exposure.

The dissatisfied cleric called the elder sister and complained that the work of God was being interrupted by her younger sister who has refused to let him in.

The 50-year-old cleric, in a confessional statement, said: “The elder sister to the girl I raped is a choir member of my church. It was after choir practice one Thursday that I informed the sister that I would like to visit her house for a serious discussion and she obliged me.”

“The following day, I paid her the visit and requested that she allow her younger sister (his victim), to massage my waist, that I had been having ache on it in the past two years and every treatment, drugs and injection had failed.

“She then went and discussed with the younger sister, who accepted to help me. So, we had the first massage treatment that day while the elder sister was around and nothing happened between me and the little girl.

“On Saturday, I called her to inform her that I was coming back for the treatment, I got there while she was about to leave for choir practice in the church. While the massage was going on, I had the (sexual) urge. So, I had carnal knowledge of the girl. I have successfully raped her three times.”

“It was the fourth time that she (victim) locked the gates against me. So, I had to call her sister on her cell phone and she rushed to the house from her shop and began to interrogate the girl on why she did not want to massage my waist again and she disclosed what has been happening between us.

“I sincerely regret my actions. It is like the ground should open up and swallow me. Don’t blame the devil for what has happened, blame me because I was tempted and I did it,” he added.

The victim, Goodness, narrated her unexpected ordeal saying, “I was in the house when the pastor came and asked me to massage his waist. On the first day, I massaged him, nothing happened between us. But on the second day, while I was massaging him, he began to touch my breast and raped me.

“I tried to escape, but he held me and warned me never to tell anybody what he did to me. He has raped me three times,” the victim said, adding that she used vegetable oil to massage the pastor’s waist.

Ahmad Mohammad, State Police Public Relations Officer, acknowledged that the pastor willingly confessed to taking advantage of the teenager and accepted arrest, adding that Amakiri would be charged to court at the end of an ongoing investigation into the matter.

Mohammad revealed that the teenager would be taken to the hospital for a comprehensive medical check-up to ascertain that the pastor has not infected her with HIV or any other sexually transmitted diseases.

Ada Igboanugo