Detectives attached to Zone ‘5’ Benin, Edo State, have arrested four senior pastors of a popular Pentecostal church (name withheld) for alleged murder. They are being interrogated for their alleged involvement in the suspected murder of a pastor’s wife at Uromi town, the administrative headquarters of Esan North-East Local Government Area.
The pastors, among them the husband of the deceased, Pastor Kingsley Amayo, were arrested for the roles they allegedly played in the questionable circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs. Faith Amayo (38). But an elder brother of the deceased, who gave his name as Fidelis Evbuomwan (an engineer), said the deceased, who did not have a child, was properly married to Pastor Kingsley Amayo in 2011.
He said that on July 26, Amayo’s elder brother, Chief Iso, informed the family that their daughter, Faith, had died in a motor accident at Ujogba while her husband was driving her to Benin. He his family members instructed their lawyer to initiate a petition when Amayo gave conflicting accounts of how his wife died in an accident in which he was also involved.
Evbuomwan, however, appealed to the concerned authorities to ensure justice as findings revealed that no case of accident was recorded at Ujogba or reported at Ekpoma Police Division in charge of the area on that fateful day.
When contacted, Amayo’s elder brother, who is a priest of Iso (Ohen-Iso), said that “since my brother has been detained, I do not have the interest to talk to you”. The state Public Relations Officer (PRO), DSP Emeka Iheanacho, said a case of motor accident was reported at Ekpoma Police Division by the pastor.
Iheanacho also confirmed that the family of the deceased wrote a petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in the zone. He said: “The matter was reported at the Edo State Command where initially they were investigating a fatal motor accident, before the family of the late woman, wife of the pastor, Mrs. Faith Amayo, now initiated a petition to the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police alleging a foul play.”
He said: “The petition before AIG is from the family of the deceased where they suspected that the husband must have used the woman for ritual. So that is the matter we are investigating presently.”
