bishop rapes i5 yr old lady

Bishop rapes 15-year-old girl in Port Harcourt

From   TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt

A cleric that described himself as the  chairman of bishops in Rivers State, Bishop Chibuike Nwabueze, has been arrested for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl and sponsoring the abortion of the baby.

The incident was said to have occurred at about 2p.m on April 29,  at Calvary Army Ministry in Rumuoji Eneka, in Obio/Akpor Local Goverment Area of the state.

The cleric allegedly admitted that he had a carnal knowledge of the victim (name withheld), but attributed the crime to a set-up by his enemies.

Bishop Nwabueze, who was paraded yesterday, at the Rivers State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Port Harcourt, told journalists that anyone could fall victim under manipulation.

He alleged that it was his fellow bishop and the host where he went to minister as a guest preacher that planned the incident because there had been a tussle for the chairmanship seat of the communion of bishops.

“We have different colleges of bishops. I am the chairman of Communion of Bishops in Rivers State. Well, what actually  happened was a set up. It was set up by my enemies. I have so many people who are my enemies. The man who is in charge of where I went to minister is my enemy. He is the person that set me up.

“He invited me to his church for a programme, claiming to  be my friend and after the programme, he set me up because of what we were dragging. We are in a tussle for chairmanship of the communion and that was why he set me up.”

He told newsmen that it was after praying for the girl in his office on the fateful day that she allegedly seduced him into having sex with her, pointing out that he did not rape her. I was surprised when I saw her pulling off her clothes . But, before you knew it, I had carnal knowledge of her. That is the truth of the matter.

“She laughed at me and said ‘are you angry?   I told her that I did not know what she had hypnotised me for  and she said I should not bother. I was so angry  that I called some of my pastors and made a confession that I did not know what happened.”

The suspect maintained that if he raped her as alleged, the girl would have raised the alarm, because many people were within the church premises.

According to him, it was after a month that the victim’s father called him on phone, saying that his daughter was pregnant.

Though, the cleric admitted funding the victim’s laboratory test and other hospital bills, he stressed that it was the girl’s father that insisted on abortion, adding that he took her to a clinic, where it was confirmed that the victim had aborted the child.

Meanwhile, the police have advised parents to carefully choose where their children worship and be wary of some clergies.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police in-charge of SCID, Samuel Okaula, who paraded the bishop and a male nurse, said  the arrest of Bishop Nwabueze should serve as a deterrent to other so-called clerics.