The pastor in charge of Glory Chapel in Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Lagos, Chucks Ogene, escaped an assassination attempt on Thursday morning.
Ogene was attacked with a knife at home by a man who claimed he sent him to kill the pastor.
The pastor, who said he wrestled with his alleged attacker for over 20 minutes and sustained injuries on his shoulder, palm and back, however rescued the suspect from being lynched by angry residents.
The man was left almost dead in front of his step -mother’s eatery before some benevolent residents took him to the Isolo General Hospital.
The attacker, who was later identified as a resident of Jakande Estate, entered the pastor’s apartment through the window.
He reportedly hid in the pastor’s children’s room, but was unfortunate as Ogene, who went out to turn off the pumping machine, saw a shadow in the room and became curious.
Thinking it was his eldest son, the pastor asked why he was awake but didn’t get any response.
Upon entering the children’s room, Ogene discovered that a stranger was inside and grabbed him by his cloth to identify himself.
He said, “I would have been dead but for the mercy of God. I went out to put on the pumping machine when light was brought and I was in my room waiting for our tank to be filled. But in that process, I dosed off.
“I woke up to put off the machine when a neighbour went out to put off his generator. As I approached the children’s room, I discovered that someone tip- toed behind their door. I usually do not close their door because I always checked on them at midnight.
“Whenever there is power outage, I always fold their curtains up for proper ventilation.
“At first I was confused because I saw all my children sleeping. I became suspicious of the eldest and asked if he was a wizard. I asked why he was hiding from me but there was no response. As I went in, I discovered that it was a total stranger and not my son. I asked what he was doing, he said he had nowhere to sleep.
“I said he should have slept inside the church if he was looking for a place to sleep. Then, I asked how he came in and he said through the door. As I made to hold him by the collar of his shirt in order to go and inspect the door he claimed he came in from, he shoved my hand away, saying I should leave him alone.
“At that point, he moved to the window side and before I knew it, he brought out a knife, saying one Lucky sent him to attack me. He aimed at my chest but I dodged him and started struggling with him. He bit my shoulder when I held him by the hand. As we were struggling with the knife, he slashed my palm, hand and back with it.
“Then I alerted my wife, who raised alarm but nobody came out. She ran to the church to wake up a member who sleeps there and two other young men who live next to us. We succeeded in overpowering him and took him out before residents came.”
Source:Nation
Tags
Society