A woman in her 50s, Madam Alimot (surname withheld), has revealed how she and others had been conniving with a pastor in one of the South West states to stage spiritual problems which, after being sprinkled with water and anointed with oil, would vanish immediately, making the congregation to believe that a miracle has happened.
With shouts of joy, praise songs and dancing, pervading the atmosphere with exhilaration, the pastor’s next move would be to tell the worshippers who desire such a miracle to drop money at the church altar.
With the expectation of diverse miracles, many of the congregants would run to the altar, drop money in thousands of naira, while others would seek the church’s account number and transfer money to it.
The reward for the job, which involved travelling from Ibadan to the neighbouring state and back, was only N7,000, including the transport fare, Alimot said.
Alimot, whose secret came out in the open after she involved the nephew of a tenant (name withheld) in the deal, was recently apprehended by the Oluyole Security Surveillance Team in Ibadan, Oyo State after the victim reported her threats when he returned from a journey she forced him into.
In the church he was taken to, he was made to act like a deaf who regained hearing after prayers and anointing. After the pastor got a lot of cash donations and paid his share to Alimot, the teenager was not given anything, except N500 to board vehicles back to his home. Not only that, he said that the woman started issuing threats, saying that the teenager had exposed her work engagement to others in the community they live.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that service in the particular church was usually carried out as if it was a movie scene where the participants play different roles from time to time.