Irate Calabar mob beats up pastor and burns down church suspected of kidnapping for ritual purposes

LOCAL residents in the Cross River State capital Calabar have demolished a new generation church and beat its pastor into a pulp after he was suspected of being involved in kidnapping children for ritual purposes.

An irate mob descended on the church located on Abua Street yesterday and beat up the clergyman who was only salved by the arrival of security operatives who whisked him away to safety. According to local people, the church was a branch of one located along Atamunu Street, which was allegedly discovered to be involved in the kidnapping children for ritual purposes.

Earlier this week, the general overseer of the church, who presided over the Atamunu branch had been arrested along with some other people, over the alleged murder of a one-year old baby, who was believed to have been used for rituals. Yesterday, the Atamunu church had been ransacked and a baby’s heart among many other fetish items were discovered there.

Yesterday, local people stormed the Abua Street branch, recovering items including used sanitary pads, bras, panties and other female accessories, as well as many pictures of young men. An angry mob then burnt every item recovered from the church.

One local man who gave his name as David, said: “These are just herbalist homes disguised as churches. If they put signpost as herbalists, no one will go but they make it look like a church.

"I believe that this one was particularly patronised by women, who are given assignments to look for husbands, you can tell from the many pictures of young men discovered here. Most of those young men have no idea that their picture has been taken somewhere and tied down here, so who knows if they have told any of them to use the soaked pads to cook for men they want to marry."

He added that lot of bizarre things keep happen and he wishes something would be done to check the activities of these churches. During the raid, some residents were carrying wood, and zinc and other items recovered from the demolished building for their personal use.