It has been over a year since Samuel Eleng and his wife, Favour, lost their two-year-old twin daughter at the Children’s department of the Canaan Land, Winners Chapel headquarters, Sango-Ota in Ogun State, and yet, there is no sign of the girl.
The couple are still stunned by the mysterious disappearance of Praise on April 17, 2011, an Easter Sunday.
Although the Church’s founder, David Oyedepo, was said to have shown support to the family, however, Samuel alleged that the Church had been meddling with the case to prevent it from going public.
“We handed our girls, Praise and Glory, over to the school teachers under whose custody many other children were kept. They gave us two tags as proof that we had our children under their care for that day,” said Samuel.
However, by the end of the church service, Praise had gone missing from the class in which she was left.
Even the teachers in charge of the twin girls were not in sight, as they were said to have all gone for service as at the time the couple went to get their daughters.
“I saw my wife around the vicinity of the Children’s section, she was crying. She told me that Praise was missing,” he said.
Samuel said they eventually got hold of one of the four teachers supposedly in charge of the children’s class, who was also at a loss regarding the whereabouts of Praise.
“She claimed not to know but advised us to check other classes. So we started moving around from class to class, around the church premises,” he continued.
By then apprehensive but still hopeful, the couple waited until after the service and reported the matter to Oyedepo, who prayed and joined them in the search.
“He (Oyedepo) walked with us to the Children’s department and after praying, he said he has not seen any evil signal,” Samuel said.
However, a more frantic search for Praise was not successful as the hours harrowingly dragged on into days and months for the troubled family.
“I was thinking so many things; how can I come to the house of God and my child will suddenly disappear? Even if it was time for rapture, how can it just pick my child only?” Samuel said.
Thwarting police investigation
The case was later reported by the church’s Chief Security Officer, Supol Cosmas, at the Police Area Command in Onipanu, Sango-Ota in Ogun State, where one Ijeoma Lawal was assigned as the Investigating Police Officer (IPO).
A source at the police station said that Samuel was questioned but the four teachers directly connected to Praise’s disappearance were prevented from making statements.
The source also claimed that a call had come from a senior pastor of the church asking the police not to interrogate the teachers because they had volunteered for the job and should not be put through any hassles.
– Daily Times
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If d so called pastor could say d police should not be interrogate the teachers because they had volunteered for the job and should not be put through any hassles,den i stand to say is an agreement btw pastor n d teachers,even if d av volunteered to do d work d av every right to be interrogated being it dat i hand over my child with u during service n after service i cant see my child n u ask me not to interrogate d teachers den mr pastor be ready to bring back my child ,look dis is no covering time let pastor oyedepo bring d child back to d family; more of such issues will come up n wht do u think people will say about him is a bad name on him how long will u cover.