A cleric, Prophet Elikanah Ajibade, who was charged to court on Tuesday
and was remanded in prison, was accused to have physically abused his
son because he attended a church service against his instruction.
According to the details obtained by Crime
Reports, the boy who is now in the care of JWC staff, reportedly left
home for the new year eve service on Monday, December 31, 2012, in a
church which was not his father’s, though against the will of his
father.
The father, a Cherubim and Seraphim prophet at
Okinni, a town in Egbedore Local Government area of Osun State, had
earlier told his son who is his late wife’s third son not to go to any
other church for the service to usher in a new year.
It was
gathered that Prophet Ajibade, in annoyance, went to the church,
interrupted the service and brought David out, lashing him with strokes
of cane. Efforts by members of the church, Salvation Army Church,
Okinni, to rescue the hapless boy proved abortive as the father
reportedly shunned their pleas.
The boy, who told the police that
the father started maltreating him since the demise of his biological
mother, recounted that the father in company of his stepmother and
stepbrother beat him mercilessly. “When we got home, my dad, his wife
and her son descended on me. They tied my hands with a rope and started
beating me mercilessly”.
With tears cascading down his cheeks,
David Ajibade said, “after beating me, my stepmother locked my me and my
father inside and took the key away. Then my dad continued to beat me
and when he was tired, he ordered that I should be rolling on hot
ashes”.
While giving his account on the matter, Prophet
Ajibade said the boy had been running away from home for years. He said,
“he used to run away for weeks and would come back himself.On his last
deed which got me angry, he ran away for one week”.
The father,
whom Crime Reports learnt had never reported to the police anytime his
son was missing, stated that he decided to punish the boy because of the
tension and anxiety he went through and the problems he encountered
while looking for the boy. He denied asking the boy to roll on hot
ashes.
Confirming the arraignment in court, the Police Public
Relations Officer in Osun State, Mrs Folasade Odoro, told Crime Reports
that the operatives of JWC were administering proper care and medical
treatment on the boy in their custody.
O ma gaa ooo!!
