Pastor Ighodalo Escapes Murder by Domestic Staff

It would be putting it lightly to say Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of Trinity House luckily escaped death. By what can only be described as divine intervention, the prominent man of God still lives and his wife Ibidun, was spared the agony of being a widow. Pastor Ighodalo reported to the police a failed attempt by two of his domestic staff to kill him and kidnap his wife. The workers were not alone and had connived with a native doctor to scheme out a plot to kidnap Ibidun and demand a ransom of 80 million naira. The domestic staff and the herbalist have been arrested and charged for attempted murder.
The suspects, Abdulkareem Mohammed, 24 year old domestic staff, employed as a dog handler and the brain behind the plot; Makinde Ewusi, 36 year old native doctor who has a shrine at 9 Alofun Street, Lagos Island and Paul Eke, 29 year old security guard who works for the Ighodalo’s have all been identified as the suspects. Their plan was thwarted when Simba, the couple’s dog suddenly died from what was confirmed by the dog’s doctor to be food poisoning. Suspecting something was not right, the pastor and his wife reported the incident to the police and the dog handler was immediately arrested and taken in for interrogation. Mohammed, the dog handler confessed that he mixed poisonous substance in the dog’s food causing the dog to die. He confessed that the substance was given to him be a native doctor. In his alleged confession, Mohammed said “The security man in our estate, Eze, brought the information that if we poison my boss to death, kidnap his wife and demand for N80 million ransom, we would be rich overnight. And to actualize our mission, I went to consult a native doctor, Ewuosi for help. After explaining my mission to the native doctor, he gave me poisonous black powder, black soap and sponge with directive that I must use the powder to poison my master’s dog to know the effectiveness of the poison and if it vomits and dies, I should use it to poison anybody. After the dog died, we were still planning how to use the poison on my boss and kidnap his wife for ransom before I was arrested. But I don’t know how the devil used me to plan such evil against me employers because they were taking good care of me. I pray God forgive me.”
Mohammed led the police to arrest the security guard and the herbalist. Ewousi the herbalist allegedly confessed that although he prepared some concoctions for Mohammed, not with the intent of killing anybody. The suspects have been charged before a Tinubu Magistrates’ court on two-count charge of attempted murder of Pastor Ituah Ighodalo and his wife.
Mohammed and his accomplices have pleaded not guilty and Chief Magistrate Miss A.O Awogboro admitted them on bail for the sum of N500,000 each with two surties each in like. The case file has been sent to the DPP’s office for advice and the case has been adjourned till 18 March, 2015. The accused were taken to Ikoyi Prison, pending the fulfilment of their bail conditions.