Teenage Church Worker Carts Away N1.5m Seed Offering
CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
The General Overseer of the Divine Chosen Vine Church, Dr. Godwin Chukwudire, was shocked on Monday morning when he entered church to collect about N1.5m, which was used to sow seed by members during Church service only to discover that the money was no longer in the offering box.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that one of the teenage workers, 18-year old Elikor Ehud and one Lucky allegedly conspired, sneaked into the church in the evening, broke the seed offering box and carted away the whole money.
Thereafter they lodged in a popular hotel known as High Power Point in Ejigbo and squandered the money.
The incident happened at Church’s headquarters located at Furniture Avenue, Jakande Estate, Ejigbo area of Lagos.
The alleged theft was reported to the Police at Ejigbo Division. The Police officers, led by CSP Olabisi Okuwobi, moved into action and arrested Ehud while his accomplice, Lucky, escaped and is now at large.
The suspect, Ehud, confessed to the Police and explained that the thought to steal the money came to him when the Church organized special prayer and he was in the prayer camp for five days before they carried out the operation.
He reportedly revealed that he knew that there was huge sum of money in the offering box because many of their members sowed seed on Sunday during Church service. So, they sneaked into the Church on Monday, broke the box and stole the money.
“After we stole the money, we lodged in a hotel and I used part of the money to buy phone worth N120,000, clothes and other needs before I escaped to River State.
However, Ehud said that the money was not up to N1.5m as claimed by the Church because he got his share of N370,000 while Lucky got N300,000.
Ehud was brought to the Court to be arraigned before he was taken back to the Police Station in order to be arraigned later because the Court did not sit on Wednesday.
When P.M.EXPRESS correspondent visited Ejigbo Police Division to speak with the DPO, she confirmed the incident but declined to make further comments referring our reporter to the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana, for details.
The suspect, Ehud, revealed that he had attended the Church for several years because his parents were among the leaders in the Church. He said he was a worker in the Communication Department of the Church and had knowledge of the movement of money but never thought of stealing until he went to camp for special prayers organized by the Church.