Labourer’s death: No part of the body was removed, says C.C.C spokesperson

…Case file opens in Homicide section Panti on Wednesday
CCC Worldwide gives Shepherd Aso maximum backing

The Nigeria Police and the family of ‘Dogo’, the Hausa man who died accidentally on the duty of contracted job at C.C.C Overcomers Parish, Ajah had stirred serious attacks on the Senior Shepherd-in-charge of the parish, James Godwin Aso, and vandalization of the church buildings worth millions of naira.

Jungle justice, looting, vandalization, and misinformation carried out by a mob on a branch of the Celestial Church of Christ, Overcomers parish has left the church’s shepherd and other members in critical conditions. The irate mob also set fire to the church building after vandalizing it and looting its property.

In efforts to dent the image of the shepherd and the body of the Celestial church, various bloggers took advantage of the scenario to misinform the general public that the hausa man who died inside the soakaway accidentally, was used for rituals by the church.

The Celestial Church of Christ body worldwide has risen up to investigate the matter and have thrown their weight behind the popular shepherd.

According to Secretary of the Pastor in Council CCC Worldwide and Head of Media and Publicity Unit, Superior Evangelist Kayode Ajala, who was at the Langbasa police station to address the general public and revealed the next line of action in the principle of laws and orders. He also revealed that the family of the deceased has confirmed that no part of the body was removed.

He said: “We are here on behalf of the church to meet with the police officers in charge of the case, we met with DCO and IPO and we had a successful session with them. They assured us that the body of the deceased Hausa man who died while evacuating the soakaway of Overcomers Parish is intact, the body is at the mortuary, and it was deposited there by the police. And there was no sign of mutilation or whatsoever on the body, the police have assured us that and they said the family of the deceased can even attest to it that the body was not mutilated in any way.”

Superior Evangelist Ajala also disclosed that the case has been moved from Langbasa Police Station to the homicide section of Panti while the investigation continues where the two families would meet on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow the family members of the deceased and the families of Shepherd Aso James will meet at Panti, the CCC Worldwide will also send a representative to see what will happen in terms of the investigation, that is how far we have gone and we will keep giving you regular updates. But most important is that we want to assure members of the Celestial Church of Christ that we have been assured that no one can rightfully call members of the church ritualists, in this case in particular, the body was not mutilated.”

Meanwhile, Shepherd Aso James has finally spoken from the hospital bed where he debunks all allegations against him and the death of the labourer who died on the duty of clearing soakaway accidentally.
“I am feeling better, God is taking control, and I am alive,” said Aso with bondage all overhead.

“I thank God, the truth shall prevail, I have never engaged in such rubbish people are saying, I am an apostle of God and I will remain one for life. This is a tribulation not only for me but for the body of the church which I believe by the name of God Almighty and Papa Oshoffa, we shall overcome it.”

Shepherd Aso also urges the Celestial body to keep praying for the assistant Shepherd, Senior Evangelist Ayotunde Oladipupo, who is said to be in critical condition in a Lagos hospital after making efforts to rescue the Hausa man inside the soakaway.

“The first Thursday of every month is the Celestial Church New Moon Service. I was the service conductor staying in the alter, after hearing the noise, everybody was running out of the church, so I was forced to stop the service and attend to what is happening, I was hearing Dogo, Dogo, Dogo, I had to call the assistant Shepherd to rescue the man, he put off his cloth and jumped inside too, it was the assistant shepherd that confirmed Dogo is dead and he couldn’t talk again inside the soakaway, the assistant shepherd also got stocked in the soakaway and he was also struggling to talk. I had to rescue both of them, we pressed his stomach to flush the water out, and over 20 people were there that very moment seeing everything that happened, I had to call out to some people to help us.”

Narrating the story, Aso said:
Dogo is a guy everybody knows in that area, he works for people in the community, he does errand work for people. He comes to me for help and as a matter of fact, we relate together.

We had paid Dogo three days before that day, and he came to drop off his equipment, he had even done some part of the job because he was the one that broke the cover of the soakaway. He first packs the toilet and still suggested we need to clear the water chamber, everything he did there was based on his recommendation. He brought his pumping machine and tools and he said he was coming back; all these were three days before he came at midnight.

Even Dogo himself knows that I will never be allowed to come and do such in the night not to talk of midnight. People are just taking advantage of what happened, I never asked him to come and do any work at midnight, for what? We didn’t believe the guy had died until we got to the hospital.

We went to a particular station in which they directed us to Langbasa Police Station, and it was there that they asked us to call his people, and the police told us to wait till morning so that they can follow us to the place and they saw everything, they saw Dogo on the floor after returning him from mortuary, police took photographs of everything.

The police were not armed, they were not expecting such drama, the boys were too much and they had already concluded what they wanted to do, even when I was talking to them.