An Abuja-based pastor, Amos Isah, facing charges of raping a 14-year-old girl, has resumed his ministerial duties in his church.
Isah, the founder and General Overseer of Prophetic Voice of Fire Ministry International, Gwagwalada, Abuja, shared a video clip on social media on Sunday showing him leading an ecstatic congregation.
According to Premium Times, the clergyman apprehended on 18 June spent more than five weeks in the custody of the Force Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigerian police before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja granted him bail on 25 July.
Judge Enobie Obanor granted Isah bail based on his claim of suffering from “pulmonary tuberculosis which has progressively deteriorated into a severe form of obstructive airway disease.”
Isah claimed to have contracted the ailment during his detention.
However, days after his release from custody, he was captured in a video circulating on social media, showing him ministering to his church members after he was given an ecstatic welcome by the congregants.
Checks by the our correspondent show that since his release, Isah has conducted church services on 31 July, 2, and 3 August (Sunday).
From the video clips uploaded to his Facebook page, the Sunday service appeared to have drawn the largest crowd, with protocol men in suits joining hands to form a fence keeping the jubilant congregants from besieging the pulpit.
On 18 June, the police arrested the cleric for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl, who is a member of the media unit of his church.
In an interview with the publication mentioned above at a hospital where she went to see a doctor regarding post-assault conditions on 30 June, the teenager, whose name is withheld over stigmatisation concerns, said she was raped on 26 May but kept mum out of fear.
She noted that Isah had invited the victim to his office, where the incident occurred.
She recounted her experience to her friend, who encouraged her to disclose the matter to her parents.
After telling her parents, her father reported the issue to the police.
The victim mentioned that she started experiencing abdominal pain and bleeding a few weeks after the alleged ordeal.
The police, after arresting him, subsequently charged him with four counts of rape, indecency and violence.
On 22 July, he was arraigned before the FCT High Court. When the charges were read to him, he pleaded not guilty.
