Further revelations have emerged about how a self-proclaimed Prophet and spiritual director of Zion Prayer Movement Outreach (ZPMO), Evangelist Ebuka Obi, allegedly planned to assassinate social media influencer, Mr. Chizorom Harrison Ofoegbu, popularly known as Ijele Speaks II while being transported to Awka, Anambra State capital for arraignment in court.
Reliable sources told SaharaReporters on Thursday that the cleric through his lawyer, Eze Victor, paid four Ikoyi prison officials in Lagos State where Ijele has been in detention since 2024, to transport him (Ijele) to Awka on Wednesday by air at 8:30AM.
Meanwhile, Obi had allegedly concluded a plan on how Ijele would be assassinated before court in Awka for arraignment on Thursday.
In March 2024, SaharaReporters reported that the Nigeria Police Force detained Ijele over his allegations against Evangelist Ebuka Obi.
In his viral post, Ijele had called the pastor a liar and tagged all his miracles as deceits, urging the police to arrest him for turning his religious institution into a business enterprise.
He wrote: “Dear @Lagos PoliceNG cc @BenHundeyin and our Ministry of Justice, have we abolished the 4(19) of our criminal code?
“For how long is this thief Ebuka Obi going to be allowed to fool people? Is he above the law? So any criminal can wake up one day and say whatever he likes and would be allowed to go free because ……? Pastor?
“And these are the people whose business premises serve as polling units. They’ll help rig elections for politicians who in turn would be patronising them throughout their tenures. You dare not remit some of the public funds to them, else they’ll tell their sheep that God has removed his glory from you, for that reason you must fail in the next election cycle.”
Subsequently, the police in Abuja invited Ijele to their station for an alleged case of criminal intimidation, threat to life, cyberstalking, and cyberbullying against the pastor.
The petition letter which was obtained by SaharaReporters reads: “This office is investigating an alleged case of Criminal Intimidation, Threat to Life, Cyber Stalking, Cyber Bullying, Conduct Likely to Cause the Breach of Peace in which your name featured prominently…”
The police said the offences violate sections 24(1)(a)(b), (2)(a)(b); 27(1)(a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act 2015 and sections 373 and 374 of the Criminal Code Act, Punishable under section 375 of the Criminal Code Act.
In June 2024, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos granted Ijele bail in a ruling delivered by the trial judge, Justice Akintayo Aluko in the charge numbered FHCA/3210/24.
However, the court mandated Ijele to provide N50million bail bond with two sureties, adding that one of the sureties must own a landed property in Lagos while the civil service cadre of the other one must not be lower than level 14.
Ijele, who was able to meet his stringent bail conditions in August 2024, has been held in Ikoyi prison and was scheduled for arraignment before Justice Amina A. Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Awka Division on Thursday.
But sources told SaharaReporters that the case was called with a federal prosecutor and a lawyer representing Evangelist Ebuka Obi doing “watching brief”.
According to one of the sources, the judge was told that the prison authorities couldn’t bring Ijele to court because he was critically ill in Ikoyi prison where he was undergoing dialysis.
The source said, “But what really happened was that the head of corrections at Ikoyi had collected money from Prophet Ebuka Obi to pay for four wardens to accompany Ijele to Awka on 8:30am flight yesterday in preparation for today (Thursday).”
According to the source, “It was revealed that the prophet had arranged assassins to ambush his convoy from the airport.
“When the information leaked and beside the fact that it was unethical of the prison to collect money from the nominal complaint to transport Ijele to Awka, the prison authorities halted the flight and began investigating those involved.”
The source however said that Ijele’s lawyers had petitioned the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF) to allow the trial to take place in Lagos for security and health reasons.
“The AGF has reportedly approved the memo but when Prophet heard he did he quickly asked the prison to be bribed to ship Ijele to Awka to finish him off.
“Today, the AGF has reportedly approved the memo and it will be sent to the CJ in Abuja for approval,” the source added.
The source added that since August 2024 when Ijele fulfilled his bail conditions, “The Federal High Court judge has issued four production warrants but severally they were questionable because several were issued while the court judge was not in court.”
Justice Amina A. Mohammed in Awka adjourned the case until May 8 for arraignment in Awka.
Meanwhile, the source told SaharaReporters, “The prison officers have returned Ebuka’s flight tickets money to him after they were caught red-handed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Bunmi Ojo, who instituted a probe.
“Eze Victor, who is the lawyer doing the watching brief for Ebuka Obi, was the one who gave the prison people money to transport Ijele to Awka.”
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