A self-acclaimed evangelist, Akinjide Durojaiye, was on Thursday beaten to a pulp for stealing two phones in an office within Femi Johnson Building at Dugbe, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Durojaiye, 49, who claimed to be an evangelist at Dominion Assembly, Ilare-Ijesa in Osun State, was at the office where mobile phones and their accessories were being sold, to preach the gospel to the occupants.
Entering the shop, Durojaiye claimed that he came from Ilare-Ijesa on an evangelism mission to Ibadan and that the ‘holy spirit’ had directed him to the office to preach to them and get some people converted.
While the occupants of the office were engrossed in the ministration, Durojaiye was said to have stealthily taken the phones but he was apprehended by the attendants and other onlookers at the office. The two packs of handsets were said to have been valued at N70,000.
While being chased, Durojaiye was said to have hidden in a store within the office complex but was discovered by another attendant in one of the offices, after which he was brought out and beaten blue and black, while the stolen phones were recovered from him.
The evangelist, who clutched a copy of the Holy Bible to his chest, attributed the incident to the work of the devil, saying it was his attempt to get money to treat his 7-year-old son, who was on admission at a hospital in Osun State that pushed him into committing the act.
