Thirty-two-year-old Jerry Akpan, who claimed to be a pastor and allegedly used false prophecies to deceive and defraud his victims in Port Harcourt has suddenly come to the end of his inglorious ‘ministry’.

For years, he had been duping people in different churches he was invited to preach, but he met his waterloo when he deceitfully took possession of a victim’s car and quickly sold it to a syndicate of fake pastors.

Sunday Sun learnt that hundreds of complaints had been received by the police in Rivers State from different churches regarding the activities of some ‘pastors’ who gave false prophecies with the sole intent to dupe people.  Some of the fake prophets even had sex with female victims on the pretext that doing so would make their businesses blossom.

As complaints about fake pastors and prophets continued to flood Rivers State Police Command headquarters, the Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad began discreet investigations and in the process arrested ‘Prophet’ Jerry Akpan, who incidentally had duped Ambassador Bobby Tochukwu.

Akpan deceitfully dispossessed Tochukwu of his Everest Ford SUV, which he sold to other fake pastors, who are members of a syndicate of fake pastors.  In course of interrogation, it was discovered that he had similarly duped several other people through false prophecies.

On how he became a ‘minister’ of the gospel, Akpan said “I was called as a prophet when I was in my mother’s womb.  I started preaching at Uyo Park in Ikot Ekpene, Cross River State.  Then one day I boarded a bus and came to Port Harcourt where I continued to preach, moving from house to house.  God has not told me to set up a church.  Rather I am invited to churches to preach.  Whenever I was invited for crusades, I would be given some money after preaching”.

Pastor Akpan who hails from Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State further explained: “I was introduced to using Holy Bible to rob people in the church through giving false prophecies.  I went for a programme that lasted two days, I ministered on the first day as the guest speaker while the pastor of the church spoke on the second day.  He asked if I didn’t see any prophecy.  I told him yes and he said I will pay for the prophecy

“I paid N70,000 and was told to observe three days fasting and prayer with assurance that I would see the prophecy.  But at the end I didn’t see any prophecy.  I went back to meet the pastor in his office and he revealed to me that they organized some people who were members of their syndicate and who were used during the church service as prophets.

“The would send text messages to their phones and deceive the entire congregation as if the prophecy was real but congregation would not know it was fake.  He said they used the Holy Bible to rob them.  That was how I joined the syndicate”.

Akpan made more revelations: “On a certain day in November 2013 I preached in the church of one ‘Prophet’ Victor Ibe.  After I finished the preaching, Ambassador Bobby Tochukwu approached me that I should follow him to his village in Imo State.  When we got to the village, I held a deliverance session.  I deceived him on our way back that there was blood in his Everest Ford SUV.  He gave me the car to do deliverance prayer over it.  I told him that it would require three hours prayer.  I took the vehicle and sold it to our syndicate members who are pastors in the sum of N550,000.

“It was when he didn’t see the car that the case was reported to SARS and I was arrested”.

Continuing Akpan said: “I was invited to preach in a church called Hand of Mercy, I invited two members of my syndicate to the crusade.  I started to deceive the congregation by sending text of a false prophecy to the syndicate and one of them came out to give a testimony to the entire congregation.  After the crusade I paid each of them N6000.  if other pastors invite me to their crusade right from the church, I would send a texts to the pastor while preaching about the person who came with us.

“While the pastor is preaching, we would quickly call that person and then go on to dupe him.  They would pay me N20,000 or N25,000 depending on how much money they make at the crusade”.

Akpan confessed that there are thousands of fake pastors in Port Harcourt who use fake prophecies to dupe church members and promised to help the police unmask them.

He warned the public to be wary of ‘pastors’ who prophesy to them and also want to take their property.

Meanwhile, the police commissioner said the SUV had been recovered and assured that the alleged false prophet would appear in court soon.

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