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Kenyan religious tragedy: Nigerians feared among victims as more bodies are exhumed
It may well be that Nigerians could be among the victims of the Kenyan tragedy, where no fewer than 95 people suspected to have died of starvation have been pulled out from their graves, as at Wednesday, given the make up of the membership of the church,
Devotees, from Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda among other countries, reportedly made up the cult group, known as Good News International Church, said to have been formed by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, a taxi driver-turned radical pastor, who has been arrested for encouraging his members to find God through starvation.
The identities of corpses recovered from mass graves in the 325-hectare (800-acre) bush around Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi have not been revealed, reports say, quoting a Kenya Red Cross official, Hassan Musa, who confirmed that 311 people, including 150 minors, had been reported missing to its support staff in Malindi, hinted that not all the victims were Kenyans.
“We are talking about people mostly from Kenya, but also from Tanzania and Nigeria. Some have been missing for years,” he said.
A missionary, Pastor David Odunayo, said he was not surprised that Nigerians might be among the members of the church, considering the fact that Nigerians are well-travelled. He, however, said fasting should be done according to the scripture.
The provost of Reuben George Theological Seminary, Pastor Gabriel Aina, berated the indoctrination of worshippers by Nthenge, noting that his actions were unbiblical and a fulfilment of the prophecy that many would depart from the faith in the latter days.
“It is the spirit of error. Paul prophesied that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits. The departure does not necessarily mean that they will leave the church but they will be led astray, people would be seduced to do things that are contrary to the words of God,” he said.
Pastor Aina, a minister with the Gospel Faith Mission International, urged worshippers to be like the Berean Christians, whom the bible said, “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what they were taught was true. People can only be free from errors when they know the truth.”
It was not clear last night if the Federal Government of Nigeria was making efforts to assist affected Nigerians.
Enquiries made from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs yielded no positive response as officials confided in Daly Trust that they would need time to reach out to relevant departments and the Nigerian High Commission in Kenya.
As the discovery of dozens of bodies buried in Shakahola forest has prompted calls for a crackdown on fringe religious outfits in the largely Christian country, Rhoda Onyancha, Coast Regional Commissioner, told reporters: “We had five exhumations which brings the total number of those who lost their lives to 95.”
At the state-run Malindi Sub-County Hospital, whose morgue is already stretched well beyond capacity with dozens of bodies, families were desperate to know if their loved ones had been found.
Teenager Issa Ali was taken to Shakahola in 2020 by his mother and told AFP he was beaten by Nthenge when he tried to leave, until his father rescued him.
“The last time I saw my mum was in February,” the soft-spoken 16-year-old said.
“She was so weak the last time I saw her.”
Onyancha said Wednesday that 39 people had been found alive so far in the bush around Shakahola, while 22 people had been arrested.
The majority of the dead were children, according to three sources close to the investigation, highlighting the macabre nature of the cult’s alleged practices which included urging parents to starve their offspring.
Executive director of the rights group Haki Africa, Hussein Khalid, who tipped off the police about Nthenge’s activities, told AFP the pastor’s Good News International Church appeared to require children to starve first, followed by women, and finally men.
He said 50 to 60 percent of the victims were children, whose bodies were found wrapped in cotton shrouds inside shallow pits.
Kenya’s President William Ruto has vowed to take action against rogue pastors like Nthenge “who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology”.
Nthenge who is known for his radical doctrine has been arrested in the past.
The televangelist had been arrested in 2017 on charges of “radicalisation” after urging families not to send their children to school, saying education was not recognised by the Bible.
Nthenge was arrested again last month, according to local media, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.
He was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($700) before surrendering to police following the Shakahola raid.
Nthenge is due to appear in court on May 2.
“The deceased’s death was an avoidable one but for the negligence of the parents and PW 3, they didn’t take him to the hospital until the day he died on November 30, 2021,” were the definite words with which courts, on Monday, placed the full burden for the death of Sylvester Junior Oromoni, on the shoulders of the parents rather than his school, which they had been accused of killing him.
The verdict, coming three years after the incident, raised a lot of dust across the country occurred, the Coroner Inquest raised by the Lagos State Government, which held at the Ogba Magistrate Court to investigate the death of the 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, absolved the school of culpability, but the parents and the family doctor, identified as the PW.3.
Mikhail Kadiri, the coroner magistrate, while pronouncing on the outcome of the matter after the death of the young lad on November 30, 2021 nearly set the country on edge, with many declaring war against the school, declared that Oromoni’s enlarged liver was not adequately treated, which resulted in his death.
The parents, had attributed the sad development to heavy bullying the boy was said to have received in the hands of some senior students, and went further to allege that he was even given an unknown toxic substance, which he was forced to drink in the hostel.
The deceased, was said to have specifically mentioned some of his attackers, who allegedly subjected him to heavy beating as Favour Benjamin, 16, Edward Begue (16), Ansel Temile (14) Kenneth Inyang and Micheal Kashamu, 16, son of late Senator, Buruji Kashamu, before he died.
However, on the heels of the clearance of the five students and staff of the college, who had been standing trial on the matter, on January 5, 2022, Kadiri said: “Based on the foregoing, it is clear that the deceased’s health deteriorated in (doctor) PW 3’s care.
“PW 3, did not take proper care of the deceased, PW 3, completely abandoned the deceased for a period of more than 32 hours. The deceased went through an avoidable and excruciating pain and made to suffer needlessly.”
Dunamis International Gospel Centre, otherwise known as Dunamis Church, on Monday, stopped short of offering full apologies to Veronica Anyim, one of its members about 24 hours after she was stopped from giving testimony on the alter by Paul Enenche, the Senior Pastor of the church, who called her a liar.
Though the church, which acclaimed that from further development, it had ascertained the veracity of her claim, neither retracted nor apologised in a carefully-worded statement it released over the incident, which took place during its service at the Abuja headquarters on Sunday, it reiterated that there was no intention by Enenche to embarrass the said lady, attributing the negative outcome to media frenzy.
The statement, signed on behalf of the cleric by Sylvester Edoh, Personal Assistant and Secretary, justifying the position of the Pastor, who he said had since reached out to the female member, said his action was based on his reading of her poor quality of English language, which was clearly below what was expected of a law graduate, thus casting doubts on her testimony.
Besides, her testimony that she studied law for 10 years and inability to state the correct degree she was supposed to obtain, saying she had BSc, which was not known to the discipline rather than the appropriate degree of LLB, equally did not help matters.
Maintaining that there was no intention to embarrass her, the statement, added: “It must be pointed out clearly here that embarrassing the testifier publicly with the attendant media frenzy, was never intended. Whatever happened was on the spur of the moment. The action of the Senior Pastor was based on his and the Church’s aversion to the seeming mediocrity and any appearance to untruth.
“While we remain resolute to our passion for excellence, intolerance of mediocrity and falsehood, we want to reiterate the fact that no harm or hurt was ever intended by the Senior Pastor against Ms Anyim Veronica. The Senior Pastor feels deeply concerned and has already reached out to her.
“As a commission, we regret every inconvenience, hurt or embarrassment this unfortunate scenario has caused Ms Anyim Veronica Nnenna. We remain committed to her physical welfare and her spiritual growth.”
Full Statement:
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