An Ondo State-based pastor, Paul Oyewole, was earlier in the week dragged before a Chief Magistrate Court in Ondo, Ondo State, for publishing and posting his own obituary on the social media platform, WhatsApp, in a bid to avoid repaying a N3 million debt owed to a church member.
The 43-year-old pastor was arraigned by the police on Wednesday.The Police Prosecutor, Akao Moremi told the court that the defendant fraudulently obtained ₦3m from one Boyede Emmanuel, with the promise to pay back the money within seven days, a promise he failed to fulfill.
Moremi said that the defendant falsely published his obituary on WhatsApp after he had sent a fake bank alert.
The police prosecutor further said that the defendant “threatened the complainant on phone, with the intent to intimidate him and also conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace, by stripping himself naked in front of the house of the complainant.”
However, the defendant pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.
The court granted him bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum.