I was promised N300,000 to blackmail Abiara, 11 other pastors, ex-convict confesses

IT was a job that was to fetch him N300,000. But the
table was turned and, instead, a 44-year-old ex-convict,
Festus Balogun, ended up in police detention where he is
cooling his feet. For months, the suspect had been on the
wanted list of Ondo State Police Command as detectives
tried  to smoke him out of his hideout, following
complaints by some pastors of the Christ Apostolic
Church (CAC) that someone was blackmailing them for
pecuniary gains.

dragnet was set for the suspect and he was
apprehended. Balogun confessed to the police that he
was lured into the act by a marketer who ended up
duping him.
The suspect, aka “Smart”, released from Kirikiri
Maximum Security Prisons in December, last year, had
released a compact disk (video) in which he allegedly
blackmailed the 12 pastors of the church.
Balogun said he was lured into the blackmail by the
marketer, who promised him an initial reward of
N300,000 with more to come subsequently.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the marketer, in
conjunction with the suspect, rolled out the CD, titled,
Asiri Tu (secret exposed), in which he claimed that 12
prominent pastors engaged him to kill for them to gain
spiritual power.
The suspect alleged that the pastors were involved in
ritual killing and other fetish acts.
“Some prominent men of God, numbering 12 and namely:
Pastor Samson Olueamodede of Prayer Centre Church of
God, Idanre Road, Akure and Pastor Samuel Kayode
Abiara, the General Evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church
Worldwide and ten others, engaged him to kill for them to
gain spiritual power”, a police source said.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard when he was paraded by
the police in Akure, the suspect  confessed to the alleged
crime and admitted that he was convicted for cultism and
imprisoned in the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons in the
past.
Balogun said he had never been in contact with any of
the men of God he made the allegations against in his
video and had never killed in his life. He said that all what
he alleged in the video were lies in a bid to make money
from the victims.
The suspect denied that he was sponsored by other
pastors to tarnish the image of the CAC pastors. The
suspect said he saw it as a means to make quick money
for his survival after his jail  experience.
Balogun claimed that he was induced by a marketer in
Ibafo, Ogun State, who promised to reward him with
N300, 000 for the CD. A source said the suspect had
given useful information on how the fleeing marketer and
producer would be apprehended by the police. He
regretted that the marketer, after the release of the video,
went underground. Balogun explained that “ the marketer
has not given me anything after the video was released”.
He however pleaded that the pastors that were
blackmailed should “ find a place in their hearts to forgive
him” One of the 12 pastors that were blackmailed,
Oluwamodede, who came to witness the confession” of
the suspect, declared that he had forgiven his
blackmailer. The pastor said God had vindicated him
and his colleagues.   He, however, urged security
agencies to ensure that people who engage in such
blackmailing acts are dealt with as specified by the law,
so that it will serve as deterrent to others.