Joy Anyim
A Lagos-based church minister, Sesan Adelana has dragged a pastor and his sister-in-law to the police over the sudden death of his wife, Roselyn.
Adelana whose five-year-old marriage with the deceased produced three children claimed his late wife who had been sick for about three weeks died while in the custody of the pastor identified as Prophet Moses Ejalonibu.
Preliminay investigations revealed that the late Roselyn, who was 30-year-old fell sick early November, 2018. Her husband who claimed to have been financially crippled and could not afford to take her to a hospital took her to New Life Pentecostal Church of Cherubim and Seraphim, in Bayeku, Ikorodu.
At the church where Adelana is also a full time minister, a self-acclaimed nurse whose identity is yet-to-be made public by the police, had diagnosed the deceased of typhoid fever. The said nurse had further administered injections and given her some drugs.
Roselyn who did not get any better after the treatment had called her ‘sister’, Justina Godwin to come to her aid as her health was deteriorating.
Following the urgency of the call Justina had quickly rushed to her Roselyn’s house. On getting there, she attributed the illness to a spiritual attack and decided to take Roselyn to a Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Apata Igbala Parish, Unity Estate also in Bayeku, Ikorodu for spiritual help.
However, Roselyn did not survive the hurdle as she died while receiving spiritual attention at the said church, just a week after her arrival.
Still surprised at the sudden turnout of things, the 41-year-old Justina, a fruit seller in Ikorodu managed to tell how it all went down. She maintained she was only trying to save Roselyn’s life because her condition was already bad.
She said, “Roselyn is my cousin but we are as close as sisters from same parents. It was the way she sounded on phone when she called me that got me scared and I had to rush to her house.
“When I got to her house, she told me a nurse had told her it was typhoid but that her chest was aching and that she had also lost appetite for food. Looking at her, I sensed her ailment may be a spiritual attack, so I took her to my church, where Prophet Moses pastors.
“A few days after getting there, with prayers, the drinking and bathing of holy water administered by the prophet, she was getting better, had started eating and generally her condition had improved. But suddenly about six nights after our arrival, at 1 a.m., she started complaining of a terrible chest pain again and after much prayers, she stopped breathing and her body became cold, she died.”
Prophet Moses who has also chronicled his involvement in the sudden death of the mother of three, boasted of the ability of his holy water to heal. “I gave her nothing except water that I had prayed on with Psalms. She was even getting better days after she was brought to my church. I really cannot explain her sudden death, I did not administer or do anything outside the ordinary.
“The water I even administered to her had been used by many sick persons that had been brought to me and they recovered speedily. If you even go to my church now, you will see others who are sick and are using the water.”
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The husband of the deceased who had first reported the matter at the Igbogbo Police Division in Ikorodu revealed that he had earlier thought of just going to bury his late wife in peace but was forced into involving the police by concerned neighbours.
He said, “I was called about 2 a.m. on the day my wife gave up the ghost to come to the church where Justina had taken her to. The pastor said my wife was dead, saying I should come quickly to carry her remains. When I got to the church, her lifeless body was laid on a bench. I had to take her to the morgue that night.
“It was when I got home later that day and informed my neighbours of what had happened that they insisted I go to the police to report the matter.”
Asked why he did not take Roselyn to the hospital when she was ill, Adelana said, “I did not have money for hospital bill, that was why I could not take her to the hospital. I am just a full-time church minister in my church and I am not on any salary, since I don’t work.”
It was learnt that the case had been transfered to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) Panti, Yaba where Justina and Prophet Moses are being quizzed.
A police source at the SCIID said autopsy would be conducted on the deceased to ascertain the cause of death and on the completion of investigations, the suspects would be charged to court.
