A pastor identified as Apostle Pastor Etim, stopped by at the venue of a burial service and rather than sympathize with the bereaved, he stole the widow’s money.
The uninvited guest, from Enen Atai in Itu local government area of the state, was not so lucky as the officials from the Department of State Services (DSS) tracked and arrested him after they learnt of the incident which happened at Itung Mbang, Uruan local government area of Akwa Ibom State
A report by Daily Independent stated that Etim watched as sympathizers gave the widow gifts and patiently waited to steal a bag that had about N600, 000, two cell phones belonging to the widow and her late husband, a cheque book with an ATM pin written at the edge of the cover.
Also inside the bag was an ATM card and a briefcase containing the late husband’s documents, which was handed over to the woman’s son to keep.
Etim proceeded to buy a land in Uyo, with the stolen money and withdrew all the money in the victim’s account using the ATM.
He started making use of the widow’s phone and even gave his wife the other phone which belonged to the deceased.
Etim was tracked by the DSS officials through the stolen phones and was arrested during a church session at his City of Reality Christian Centre, Ediene Ikot Obio Imo in Uyo, the state capital.
During an interrogation, the self-acclaimed pastor confessed to the crime during and revealed that he was into photo and video media before he received his calling.
As usual, the man blamed the devil for trying to rubbish his ministry and promised to hand over the land acquired to the widow.
While pleading with the officials to tamper justice with mercy and spare him jail, Apostle Etim said: “Please don’t send me to jail. The devil is trying to rubbish my ministry. Please do not involve my wife in this, she is innocent, I did not tell her where I got the phone from. I don’t want our child to grow up without a father, please have mercy upon me.”
