A 49-year-old self-proclaimed pastor, Akinjide Durojaye, who was caught with stolen phones at Femi Johnson area of Dugbe, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Thursday, has said the reason for his action was to pay his son’s hospital bill.
Durojaye, who claimed to be a pastor of a Pentecostal church in Ilare-Ijesa, Osun State, was caught with two Tecno phones after preaching at a phone shop in the popular market.
Eyewitnesses said he approached people at the shop in the guise that he was led by the Holy Spirit to pray for them, but it was discovered that two phones valued at N70,000 were missing after he had left.
The shop owner raised an alarm and a mob went in search of the suspect, who was already hiding in another shop. He was later pushed out by the shop owner who suspected he was the wanted phone thief.
He was beaten blue-black as he confessed that he stole the phones so he could pay for the hospital bill of his 7-year-old son (name withheld) who fell from a two-storey building.
According to him, his wife left him sometime ago and he had been the only one taking care of their four children.
The suspect was however released after some good Samaritans appealed to the mob.