Ngozi Uwujare
He is the embodiment of a Devil in Cassock, the kind of deceivers the Good Book aptly describes as “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” His sins were gargantuan, so terrible they leave you wondering if one soul is capable of such perfidy. What’s worse, he was masquerading as a man of God.
Well, the day of reckoning is here. He is currently in the custody of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives and detectives from the Homicide Section of the Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police Force.
The suspect, Pastor Chukwuemeka Eze, a self-acclaimed General Overseer of Royal Priest Prophetic Ministry, Enugu, is guilty of the original sins of dishonesty, stealing, fornication and murder.
With the police, the offenses are solemnly defined according to the Criminal Code; hence, grave charges of robbery and murder amongst others are certain to come his way. In summary, he is alleged to have killed one girlfriend and stole her belongings, then stole from another girlfriend.
He committed the first crime on July 18, 2018, when he allegedly killed his first victim, 28-year-old Ogechukwu Ogbodo with a pestle as they quarreled over her refusal to buy him a tricycle. He killed her right inside her room at No. 35B Oxford Street G.R.A Quarters, Enugu. After ransacking the room, he made away with N2 million and land documents belonging to the deceased. Few days later, he stole from his second victim, also his girlfriend, her ATM card and emptied her bank account.
His scarlet confession
Arrested on September 16 by SARS operatives at Sunrise Estate Emene, Enugu State, the suspect was transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigations Departments. In police custody, he made a clean breast of his sins.
Speaking with Saturday Sun, Pastor Chukwuemeka Eze, 33, started with an overview of his life. “I went to IMT Enugu to study Auto Engineering, but I dropped out. I later went to Biblical school and after graduation on August 27, 2017 I started a church, Royal Priest Prophetic Ministry with my girlfriend, Maryam Delima.”
He continued: “Myself and the deceased, Ogechukwu Ogbodo had been dating for five years and we had so many things in common. She was a dealer of airtime recharge card. I must confess I killed Ogechukwu Ogbodo in her room. I was pleading with her to buy a tricycle for me but she was not yielding. On July 18, 2019, I went to her house. While in the room, we had a disagreement over the tricycle issue. She insulted me and I insulted her, she used a pestle to hit my neck and I took the same pestle and hit her on her head and she died.
“I killed her around 9 pm. After I ransacked her room, I found N2 million which I took, along with her land document. I went to Onitsha market and used the money to buy Infinity Jeep, some church musical instruments and a bus for evangelism.
“In August, I lied to the church that I got my new Infinite Jeep, musical instruments and landed property through a Good Samaritan I was praying for and the whole church rejoiced with me.
“When I heard that SARS operatives came looking for me, I ran to Sapele, Warri and Abuja to avoid arrest.”
Eze, however, was not yet done with crime. He further disclosed: “On August 10, I duped my second girlfriend, Maryam Delima. She was the one who accommodated me in her house. I stole her ATM card and took her car away and lied that the car had broken down. I asked her to send N 5, 000 but she refused. I used her ATM card and withdrew N100,000 and N250,000.”
The second victim, Maryam Delima, was his kept woman. While they were not married to each other, they had cohabited for two years, and had run their church together. Delima told Saturday Sun her own side of the story.
“I have been dating Pastor Chukwuemeka Eze since 2017. I was born in Ghana but I grew up in Lagos and Enugu State. I met Pastor Chukwuemeka Eze with nothing. I established a church for myself and made him the head of the church. I bought all the chairs and church musical instruments which we used to start the church,” she stated.
“I started suspecting that my boyfriend, Pastor Eze, was lying to me; whenever he claimed he went for a vigil, I suspected he went to sleep in another woman’s house. He told me about his past experience with Ogechukwu Ogbodo, whom he referred to as his former girlfriend. But I was suspicious because he was still calling her regularly. So, I went to Ogechukwu Ogbodo and I introduced myself to her and she advised me to be careful with Pastor Eze because he is not a straightforward person.”
“On August 10, he stole my ATM card and drove away with my car. He withdrew the sum of N100,000 and N250,000. When I didn’t see him, I reported the case to the Anti-Cultism and SARS officers, and they started monitoring him. Then suddenly on September 8, he reappeared with an Infinity Jeep, musical instruments and a bus. He told the congregation that he has got a landed property. But I was not comfortable with his story. I seized the land document to force him to pay me my N350, 000 that he withdrew from my account using my ATM card. I went to the SARS operatives to show them the land document I recovered from him. We discovered that the document was bearing the name of the deceased, Ogechukwu Ogbodo.
“When I challenged him, he packed his luggage from my house and I didn’t see him until September 16 when SARS operatives arrested him and I was shocked to hear him confessed to have murdered Ugochukwu Ogbodo.”
Broken-hearted families
Saturday Sun also spoke with Mr. Njeze Christian Ikechukwu, the landlord of the deceased who gave an account of how he discovered the crime.
“I heard a noise and I rushed to Ogechukwu’s door and saw her bunch of key at the entrance but the padlock was not there. I opened the door and I saw her lying face down on her bed. At first, I thought she was sick, then I saw some marks on her face that looked as if she was stabbed. I noticed that she must have been killed. I rushed to the Railway Police Station and notified the officers there and they quickly accompanied me to the scene of the incident. The police took her to Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre where she was deposited in the mortuary,” he recalled.
He described the late Ogechukwu, who lived for three year in his compound, as a peaceful person.
Ogbodo’s corpse was already in the mortuary before her family was informed about the death of their daughter. Her brother, Chukwudi Ogbodo told Saturday Sun: “My sister’s death was a calamity to the family. Nobody even suspect Pastor Chukwuemeka Eze until the police invited us.”
The family had buried her remains since August.
“What we need from the Enugu State Police Command and the Commissioner of Police is justice,” Chukwudi Ogbodo affirmed.
Further atrocities committed by Pastor Eze came to light when the reporter spoke with his mother, Angelia Eze, who in the throes of agony lamented: “I have three children, two boys and one girl. Two years ago, they killed my second son. Now my first son has been involved in murder. What will I do? My first son will be killed. God have mercy on me. This is a trial period, deliver us from this problem.”
According to his mother, a few days before his arrest, the suspect had introduced to his parents another girl he purportedly intended to marry.
Prompted for details, the suspect divulge further sinister act: “In September, I took my parents to a traditional wedding of another girl who I wanted to marry. Because the police were looking for me, I was forced to sell the Infinity Jeep for N4, 000, 000 to the woman that I wanted to marry her daughter in order to raise money for the traditional wedding.”
Disowned by the church
Saturday Sun visited The Royal Priest Prophetic Ministry, the church the suspect supposedly was pastoring. Located at No. 1, Igwe Augustine Street, Jubilee Estate Road, Premier Layout Pen Artisau Enugu, the church premises was empty, abandoned by the congregation.
Mr. Isaac Abraham, a church member told Saturday Sun: “We were shocked on Sunday morning, September 21, 2019, when we saw SARS operatives in our church alongside our pastor, Chukwuemeka Eze who was accused of murdering his girlfriend. The policemen packed all the church’s musical instruments away together with the bus for evangelism,” he narrated, and added further: “Many members of the church have stopped coming for service .We want to know the conclusion of the case.”
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, Mrs. Janet Agbede stated that the land document, some cash and the Infinity Jeep have been recovered, including the musical instruments.
Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ahmad Abdurrahman stated that the suspect will be charged to court for robbery and murder immediately investigation is concluded.