The pastor, identified as Ifediorah Joseph, was arrested by police after flogging multiple children during a three-day programme he claimed was meant to “purify” them.
Parents of several minors filmed being brutalised by a Rivers State pastor during a so-called “spiritual cleansing” ritual have defended his actions, insisting they gave their full consent.
The pastor, identified as Ifediorah Joseph, was arrested by police after flogging multiple children during a three-day programme he claimed was meant to “purify” them.
However, the controversial cleansing ritual also involved the use of pigeon blood.
Following his arrest, a group of parents and children appeared at the police station in Port Harcourt, singing and dancing in solidarity with the embattled cleric.
One of the parents of the abused children said in an interview with journalists, “My daughter was among the children that was purified. The message was that death was in the air, and they should purify the children. They did the purification with pigeon blood, water and palm fruit.”
However, Nwamaka Ikediashi, an official of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Rivers State, has said that the parents of the minors require counselling.
She made the remark on Friday while speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme, where she provided an update on the incident and outlined steps taken by the agency.
“It is a total case of child abuse, and the parents are victims, and they are supposed to be made to understand the implications of this whole thing, and that can only be made possible via counseling,” she said.
“The parents are victims as well because they do not understand the implications, but if they did understand, they would not let their children be subjected to such inhuman treatment and torture,” she added
Previously, SaharaReporters reported that the Nigeria Police Force had arrested the pastor captured in a viral video savagely flogging children inside a church building in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The arrest was confirmed in a press statement issued by the police on Wednesday.
The disturbing footage, which surfaced online in recent days, showed the pastor viciously whipping several children, many of them stripped naked, within the premises of a church in the Eneka area of Port Harcourt.
Some of the victims appeared to be toddlers, screaming in pain as they endured the assault.
A large basin containing a red liquid resembling blood was visible in the background, further amplifying the horror of the scene.
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