Police commissioner beat me to stupor –Pastor

The celestial pastor, in charge of New Jerusalem Parish, Onosan community, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State, has allegedly been rushed to hospital after a commissioner of police, Dr. Emmanuel Eze, serving with Police Medical Department, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, allegedly beat him to stupor with some of his men.

The pastor, Johnson Dominic 44, who spoke from his bed, at Truevine Hospital, Jakande-Ajah, said the police boss earlier last year, slapped him.

It was when he slapped him again on Tuesday, that Dominic told him that enough was enough. Dominic claimed that he was pounced upon and beaten silly by Eze and four men in mufti.

Dominic, speaking barely above a whisper, said: “This commissioner of police has disgraced me a lot. He wants to cheat me because of his uniform. I’m going to sue him.”

Reacting to Dominic’s allegation, Eze insisted that he never touched the pastor, let alone to have slapped and hit him to the extent that he lost consciousness.

According to him, he and Dominic had been friends for years, to the extent that he made the pastor the manager of his property

Eze however noted that he and Dominic on Tuesday argued over some missing rods, belonging to him. And before he knew what was happening, Dominic collapsed during argument. Eze later learnt that Dominic had been on two-day dry fasting.

He said: “If I had known he was fasting, I wouldn’t have argued with him. I went there with three pastors and my driver. When he slumped, we poured water on him and gave him milk. We took him to the hospital, where I deposited some money. People that came with him to the hospital left, but I was with him until 1am, before I went home. I told the hospital that I would foot his medical bill. He’s my friend. We used to quarrel and still eat together. I’m a medical doctor; an old man. I don’t believe in violence or violation of human rights. I don’t know why he’s doing this. I think he’s angry because I told him I wanted to make use of my land. ”

Recounting how the trouble started, Dominic said that Eze arrived with four men on Tuesday, around 5p, while he was attending to people in the church.

Dominic said: “I have known the CP for long. I secured plots of land for him. I later told him that I needed a plot for some mechanics near my church. Land in that axis is usually between N500, 000 and N700, 000, but he said I should pay N1million. I paid. When I asked him to come and map out the land, he said the land was N1.2. I sent him N200, 000 balances. I got a buyer and he collected N1.2 from the person. He first slapped me for asking him to map out the land. After he finally mapped it, he assigned a swampy area to me. I accepted. He however said that I shouldn’t do anything on the land. A land I have paid for.”

Dominic further said: “When he came on Tuesday, I told them to remove their shoes before entering the church, but they refused. He told me that he wanted to pick his rods. He said celestial and garment churches like stealing people’s property. I told him that his property was intact. He started shouting at me for challenging him. He slapped me. I told him, oga, enough was enough. He and his men started dragging me on the ground. They wanted to drag me into their car. One of them hit me from the back, I collapsed.”

Dominic said that people forced Eze to take him to hospital. He said that since he was admitted and Eze deposited N10, 000, the policeman hadn’t called or came to check on him. He complained of chest, leg and hand pains. He also complained of severe headache.

A doctor at Truevine hospital said that Dominic was ready to be discharged, stressing that his vital signs were alright. He however said that Eze might have to take Dominic for x-ray since the pastor was complaining of chest pains.

Eze said: “I bought a land and told him to watch it for me. I went on a foreign mission. I bought 100 pieces of rods. He was the person that supplied the rods. He had been managing the place for me. Whenever are trespassers, he would call me. Our problem started after someone in his church supplied me blocks. Someone told me that he had been surcharging me for long. It was supposed to be 1500 blocks, but it was 1200. I didn’t bother. Secondly, I discovered that he gave a plot of land to someone, who had already started building. He didn’t contact me. Thirdly, he said he wanted to buy land. I sell a piece of land for N2.5m, but because I like him, I gave him for N1.2m. He hadn’t finished paying and he had started building. We’ve been having issues. He got angry because I told him that my wife would use the land for farming. Our major problem presently is because of some rods I gave him. We argued over the missing rods. Nobody pushed him. He pointed finger at me, shouting. He said he would kill me. He went into his church, came out and slumped.”