Three persons died last weekend at the Christ Mercyland Deliverance Ministries located on the outskirts of Warri, Delta State.
The victims, including a 10- year-old Emmanuel Odili, who reportedly went to the church see his mother who was in the church for prayers, all died in mysterious circumstances.
Our correspondent gathered that the boy was declared missing by his family members on Friday, only for his corpse to be found floating on Saturday in a deep dredged pit within the church premises.
The boy’s corpse was recovered by church officials and immediately deposited at a morgue and the incident later reported at the Ebrumede Police Station in Effurun, Uvwie local government area of the state.
A police source, who was around when the case was filed, said there were discrepancies in the accounts of the church and that of the deceased family on his state of his health.
While the church claimed he was mentally ill, his family said he arrived the church sane and healthy until his disappearance, adding that he only stepped into the church’s premises to visit his mother who was there for prayers.
Meanwhile, as the drama around the boy’s mysterious death was unfolding at the police station, two other deaths were reported at the police station, involving one Mrs. Beatrice Nwachukwu, from Imo State, and Antonio Abba, from Kano state, both of whom reportedly died during deliverance session on Saturday.
“While the matter of the boy was still being sorted out, people run down to the police station to report the sudden collapse and death of the woman, Mrs. Nwachukwu. I later heard that some others later came to report of another death of the man from Kano, Antonio. They said they died at different intervals on Saturday during prayer sessions.
“They were trying to link Mrs. Nwachukwu’s death to a high blood pressure, but her husband claimed nothing was wrong with his wife before they arrived the church,” the police source said.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the General-Overseer of the Christ Mercyland Deliverance Ministries, Prophet Jeremiah Omoto-Fufeyin, for comment were unsuccessful as his mobile phone number could not be reached.
However, the spokesman of the church, Godday Emiko, denied there were such incidents at the church.
In a brief text message he later sent to the Nation, he said Sorry, “l saw your missed calls, there is nothing like that.”
However, the Delta State police command has confirmed the development.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Andrew Aniamaka (DSP), said the command had been informed of the development, adding that investigations are ongoing.
“Three people actually died, we heard one was through drowning. The other two also died in the church. Investigations are ongoing,” Aniamaka said.