General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle
Johnson Suleman, on Monday distanced himself from the arrest and detention of
Stephanie Otobo by the police last Friday, March 3, 2017 over alleged
blackmail.
The allegation against Suleman came about one month after
his interrogation by the Department of State Services over alleged incitement
in his sermon in which he advised that Fulani herdsmen who came near his church
should be killed.
The cleric in a statement by his Communications Manager,
Phrank Shaibu, obtained by THE PUNCH in Abuja, said there was no amorous
relationship between the said Otobo and himself, including a promise to marry
her.
According to Shaibu, the lady was allegedly arrested by
operatives acting on a tip off that the she had repeatedly tried to blackmail
Suleman, including demanding N500 million from him, failing which she
threatened to expose a purported amorous relationship between her and the
Pastor.
Our correspondent reported that a legal practitioner, Festus
Keyamo, had demanding N500 million on behalf of Otobo and also accused Apostle
Suleman of allegedly procuring policemen to intimidate and detain his client
unlawfully, having earlier promised to marry her.
Shaibu said Keyamo was misled into believing that there was
an amorous relationship between Apostle Suleman and Otobo, addding that the
lady was “caught up by her own machinations as she was arrested while trying to
withdraw money paid into her account by the Church in a sting operation
coordinated by the police.”
He said, “Unknown to Keyamo, the police was alerted
following several attempts by the said lady to blackmail Apostle Suleiman. The
police also recorded her conversations making the frivolous demand. The
highpoint of the drama was her attempt to withdraw money paid into her account
at the instance of the police. The lawyer should know that his client was
arrested by the police with abundance of evidence confirming that she is indeed
a serial blackmailer.”
Shaibu also denied Keyamo’s claim of an amorous relationship
and a promise to marry her, wondering how such a transaction could have taken
place without any iota of evidence.
He said, “Let me place it on record that, the lady in
question is a self-confessed stripper in a nite club in Canada, who like
thousands of people that seek help from Apostle Johnson Suleman, called to
pretentiously convey her intentions to embrace Christ and also needed financial
help to keep body and soul as she no longer had a means of livelihood after
quitting as a stripper.
“Does Keyamo or his serial blackmailing client have pictures
of the visit by Apostle Suleman or his representatives to her parents? In any
case, how could such a relationship have existed when the Apostle and the said
lady have never met physically? How could he have made a promise of a house and
a lifestyle comparable to what she has in Canada when he has never been to her
house or seen her physically as to have an idea of her living standards?”
According to him, Keyamo must have been misled or excited by
the prospects of getting a whopping N500 million, both reasons for which two
letters were written and sent to Suleman.
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