A 13-year-old girl has been rescued from the hands of a pastor identified as Prosper Ifedinuru.
Prosper Ifedinuru, a pastor at Living Faith Tabernacle, a.k.a, Winners Chapel, Umulokpa, Uzo-Uwani LGA in Enugu, Enugu State, reportedly held the girl for weeks and made her his sex slave.
The girl’s rescue was facilitated by a non-governmental organisation, Women Aid Collective, WACOL.
WACOL said on Monday, Jan. 22, in a statement released by its media officer, Egodi Igwe, that on September 28, 2023, it received a case of the abduction of a 13-year-old girl.
Igwe said, “the case was reported to WACOL by the parents of the victim who narrated the ugly incident and requested the rescue of their daughter.
“According to them, their daughter, Miss N (name withheld), was abducted by Prosper who came to their village as a Missionary”
There were reports that Prosper disappeared with the minor with the excuse that he was taking her to open a bank account.
The parents were also quoted to have told WACOL that after the pastor kidnapped their daughter, he disappeared and all efforts to trace him and the minor proved abortive.
The statement continued: “Subsequently, it was revealed that the ‘mysterious pastor’ had turned the minor into a sex slave that he constantly violated and abused.
“Immediately, the WACOL team contacted the Enugu State Police Command and began working with the police to track the perpetrator and rescue the child victim.
“During the investigation, the church authorities denied the perpetrator, saying he was no longer in their service.
“They acknowledged that he was previously in their employment but was not in any way supported to commit such a heinous crime against the innocent child.
“After numerous searches by the police, Prosper was caught at a border town in Umuahia, Abia State.”
Igwe expressed displeasure with the rampant occurrence of such cases, saying, “It is simply unacceptable. Girls deserve to have a safe environment to flourish and excel.
“They should not have their childhood snatched from them by people who ought to protect them.
“Girls are not safe anywhere, even in religious spaces.
“There is a need for perpetrators to be held accountable and for tools of the law to be activated to protect girls in all places”, the statement read.
