A 44-year-old man who had spent some years in prison, Festus Balogun, aka Smart, has been arrested by the Ondo State Police Command for allegedly blackmailing prominent men of God in the state and beyond.
It was gathered that the ex-convict who claimed to be an indigene of Cotonou in Benin Republic, had released a CD video titled 'Asiri tu,' meaning 'secret exposed,' where he allegedly claimed that some pastors usually sent him on errand to kill, in order for them to gain spiritual power.
He mentioned prominent pastors in the state in the video, including Pastors Samson Oluwamodede of Prayer Centre Church of God, Idanre road in Akure, Samuel Kayode Abiaraof the General Evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide and 10 others.
Balogun, who confessed to the crime, said he went into blackmailing men of God when he left prison in 2001/2002 because there was no one to guide him on what was good and bad, begging the men of God to forgive him.
He added that what he used to do was to attend the revival or any programme organised by these pastors and from there he got their details.
"After I left the prison, sometimes, I will do a conductor and bricklayer job just for my feeding but when I didn't see anyone to guide me on what to do, I started producing this CD to blackmail men of God.
I will go to their revivals or programmes where I would get their details. After this, I will produce a CD and give it to a marketer to sell for me but the marketer who promised to give me N300,000 refused to give me any money. The name of one of the marketers is Ola.
I want to appeal to those men of God; it is devil's work because I am only looking for things to cater for my feeding. I left Ikoyi Maximum Prison 2001/2002 after being arrested with my gang for armed robbery and cultism. I spent four years in prison.
I don't know them, and they don't know me. I am a preacher but I don't have a church. I used to attend their churches, where some men of God will invite me and at that programme I would blackmail these pastors that they normally send me to kill."
The State Police Commissioner, Mike Ogbodu, said the CD was sold within and outside the country.
Ogodu disclosed that the suspect was arrested through intelligent information, adding that his detective team was presently on the trail of the producer of the video.
One of Pastors indicted by the suspect, Pastor Oluwamodede said he got information about the CD through members of his church, adding that he had never for once had any contact with the suspect.
But he, however, said that he had forgiven Balogun and that he was also praying to God to forgive him.
