By Toby TAIWO
It is not certain that the controversial Anambra pastor said to be in the custody of the Nigerian Police may not be there after all.
This is because the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Tochukwu Ikenga, a Superintendent of Police, has declined to speak on the issue.
A senior police officer who prefers to be anonymous also confirmed that the pastor was not in their custody.
The pastor is said to have been detained by a local vigilante group whose name has remained unknown, just like the whereabouts of the pastor.
Also, there have been divergent views on the alleged allegations levied against him.
He was alleged to have maneuvered members to surrender their spouses and do shady things in his church. .
According to an investigation carried out by Newsafricng.com, the 57-year-old Pastor Harrison Charles Anazodo of Day Spring Assembly Church, Awada, Anambra State, was alleged to have lured 75 married women, mostly his church members, to become his wives, sparking controversy among his neighbours and church members.
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Residents of Awada have spoken up. One of them, Ekene, said, “In that church, they don’t see anything wrong with polygamy because the pastor supports it. He even quotes the scripture to back it up. When they go for evangelism, men wear female wares while women wear clothes meant for men.
“Every Sunday, they observe a vigil that starts from 7 pm and ends at 5 am. But at exactly 12 midnight, all the lights go out, and one wonders what transpires within the period.
“Some members of his church accused him of forcing them to swap wives and also taking church members’ wives for himself.
“Initially, he had 45 wives with many children who attended a school built by him, with qualified teachers. The school has both primary and secondary levels. Each of the wives has businesses that he set up for them.
“How he takes these women from their husbands is like a mystery. When the men ask why he took their wives, he simply tells them they were taken from his rib.”
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But a lady member of the church, who does not want her name published, described Pastor Charles as a true man of God, saying that those against him were jealous of his success.
The young lady in her late 30s asked: “If he is doing all the things leveled against him, why has he not come to me? He married that number of women because he has enough money to maintain them.
“How many churches in this state have the kind of edifice that houses Dayspring Assembly Church?
“The lady who went viral with her post did it for a purpose. She, too, should be investigated.
“There are people who like tarnishing the image of others unnecessarily, and I believe the lady must have one or two scores to settle with the man of God.
“Some of us know he will be back. But when? That is the issue. Soludo and his goons should face their front and allow the anointed man of God to breathe,” the young lady stated.
Mr Kingsley Ugonna, an Omaba resident in Onitsha, said: “We support what the governor is doing. But the investigation has to be thorough. Let it not be a political witch hunt.
He said: “We know there are many fake men of God in society, but there are some genuine ones too.
“My beef with Harrison Anazodo is that some people have been complaining about how he goes after married women, especially those who worship in his church.
“A man of God is not supposed to live like that.
Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr. Law Mefor, had, in a statement, assured that all information provided would be treated with absolute confidentiality.
According to him, “the government is calling on Ndị Anambra and all residents of the state with credible information on pastors, churches or so-called ‘men of God’ involved in criminality, extortion, fraud, deception or any act that endangers lives and peace of our communities or misleads the people in the state to please speak up.
“This is part of the efforts of the Solution Government to rid the state of all forms of criminality and sanitise both traditional worship and religious practices in order to restore sanity, law and order in the state” Mefor said.
