A civil rights advocacy group has sent a petition to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka, complaining against one Pastor Tony Titus Daniel for allegedly raping a 20-year-old girl.
According to reports, Mr. Tony Titus Daniel, who hails from Akwa Ibom State, and claims to be a pastor and General Overseer of Jesus Alive Word Refiners International Church at Elechi/Wokoma Street, Mile 3, Diobu, Port Harcourt, conspired with his Personal Assistant, who is also a Choir member known as Miss Favour, and another lady to rape the victim.
The 20-year-old victim, who explained the reason she openly protested at the front of the church last Sunday, said Daniel and his Personal Assistant, Ms Favour, invited her to a place around Wimpey junction, Ikwerre Road, Port Harcourt, to resolve issues they were having with the pastor’s wife whose church was located in the compound she resides.
The victim, who is a hairstylist, said she obliged to meet them after Ms Favour, who is also her customer, persuaded her that the pastor’s wife would also be in the meeting.
The victim stated that she noticed the place was a Guest House upon arrival but was not suspicious of anything since Ms Favour was in the place.
The victim alleged that few minutes after she got inside the room, Daniel locked the door and increased the volume of the television set, while Ms Favour and the other lady, whom she does not know her identity, held her down on the floor against her will as the pastor raped her.
She further alleged that the pastor and his accomplices forced her to swear an oath with a substance suspected to be ‘juju’ not to reveal to anybody what transpired in the place or she dies.
Not able to bear the shame, betrayed and trauma arising from the rape, reports have it that she damned the oath, and openly protested at the front of the church after Sunday service to draw the attention of Nigerians to the alleged continuous harassment and threat to her life in the hands of the pastor even after the rape incident.
In the meantime, Counsel with a human rights advocacy group, the Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, Festus Bonwin, told newsmen in Port Harcourt, that the group petitioned the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Eboka Friday, upon receiving a report from the 20-year-old girl, to demand a thorough investigation into the allegation made by the victim against the pastor.
Bonwin said the group was also asking that the police to provide adequate security for the alleged victim as feelers indicate that there are threats from some quarters against her.
Daniel was detained at Azikiwe Divisional Police Headquarters, Mile Two, Diobu, Port Harcourt, on March 18, 2020, after one Mr. Ndidi Austin stormed Daniel’s church, alleging that he caught his wife with the pastor in a hotel.
Daniel, however, denied the allegation, stating that the place Austin saw him and his wife was not a hotel.
As at the time of filing this report, it was gathered that the Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka, had approved the petition filed by the Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, and directed the Human Rights Desk at the State Police Command Headquarters, Moscow Road headed by SP Nnamdi Omoni to carry out proper investigation.