Emmanuel Adeyemi, the self-proclaimed
prophet who allegedly chained 28 mentally sick persons in his apartment in the Oke-Ira
area of Ogba, Lagos State, will be charged with child abuse and inhuman
treatment
Families of two of
the victims showed up on Tuesday to say they brought their relations to
the prophet for prayers, but they were not aware that they were
subjected to inhuman treatments.
On
Tuesday that the Lagos State Police Command arrested the 70-year-old
prophet on Friday around 12pm when the victims, including 17-year-old
Toba Adeyemi, the suspect’s son, were found chained in an apartment on
Olamidun Close, Unity Estate in the Oke-Ira area.
The victims, who were 15 adults and 13
children, were later freed by police operatives and reportedly handed
over to the officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Youths, Sport and
Social Development.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP
Dolapo Badmos, who confirmed the development, said investigations proved
that Toba was not mentally sick as his father claimed.
She said, “The police have established a
case of child abuse and inhuman treatment against the suspect. Although
the suspect claims the victims were deranged, the police have confirmed
that the suspect’s son is not deranged.
“The prophet will be charged to court.
The son had committed no offence other than running away from home. The
police are working on the mental and health status of the other victims.
“Two families have shown up for the
victims so far, and they said they brought their relations to the pastor
for prayers, but that they did not know that they would be subjected
to inhuman treatments.
“If the suspect was truly a traditional
practitioner, there are registration procedures with the state
government and a licence he should have.”
When PUNCH Metro got to the apartment on Tuesday, it was deserted.
A neighbour, Joseph Emmanuel, said, “I
have known the man for more than a year. He claimed he could cure mental
illness. He is popularly known as Baba Woli. At night when you
walked around the house, you would hear strange noises and people
shouting at one another. Sometimes, they also threw a party and shared
food in the vicinity.”
A police source told one of our
correspondents that some shallow pits were found in the house where the
prophet allegedly buried some of his victims.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, however, said the suspicion was not true.
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