Pastor Adeiza Peter Michonza has been detained in the Federal Correctional Center Kabba following an alleged culpable homicide, on the orders of a chief magistrate court in Lokoja, Kogi State.
Michonza, the founder of the New Jerusalem Deliverance Ministry in Ageva’s Okene local government area, was detained on suspicion of operating labour wards for pregnant women in his church and selling “bulletproof” water to his members and attendees.
On September 26, 2022, the Kogi State Government closed his church and ordered the evacuation of over 100 persons, mostly young ladies who claimed to have come for prayer and had spent months there, as well as mentally disturbed persons who were in chains.
On Thursday, October 5, 2022, the presiding chief magistrate Abdul A. Umar issued the order following the Department of State Security’s expert request to detain the accused, so that they may carry out further investigations.
The accused was charged in an experte application with culpable homicide, causing a miscarriage, and impersonation, all crimes punishable under sections 224, 232, 433, and 325 of the Kogi State penal code.
The defendant’s attorney, Barrister Lawrence N. Ilobuno, informed the media that his client was taken into custody on September 19, 2022, by the Department of State Security (DSS), and has since been held there.
He mentioned that he had gone to the magistrate to ask for bail since his client had been in detention longer than necessary without being summoned to court.
Ilobuno stated that the magistrate had remanded the suspect at Kabba Correctional Center for 14 days based on the experte application submitted by the DSS for remand to allow them to conduct further investigation.
The matter has been postponed until October 20, 2022, to be heard.
