Why i Planted Bomb in Our Church: Benin Pastor Admits To Committing Offence

Operatives of the Edo State Police Com­mand have arrested one Pastor Abel Anthony for allegedly planting a bomb in the premises of Christ Cho­sen Church of God in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Pastor Anthony, who ad­mitted committing the of­fence, accused the church of provoking him to hatch the plan.
He alleged that church leadership sacked him with­out giving him fair hearing when his wife accused him of infidelity because she saw a bra and a pack of condoms in his bag.

The cleric said that he was angered by the fact that instead of the church to in­vestigate the issue, he was dismissed, even when he explained that the bra was left in his house by a Pas­tor’s wife who lodged in his apartment during the burial of one of the deacons in the church.
Anthony stated that all efforts to explain to his wife that the condoms were giv­en to him in a Human Im­munodeficiency Virus/Ac­quired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) seminar at Urhokpota Hall in Benin City, were ignored as she reported the matter to the church which dismissed him without any investiga­tion.
He said he singlehand­edly made the bomb and planted it in the church, not to destroy the building, but to scare the members.
Anthony admitted that the bomb would have ex­ploded if fire had touched it.
He said: “It was because I was dismissed from the church over a problem I had with my wife.”
“My wife found a wom­an’s bra and condoms in my bag and went to the head­quarters to report to them.”
“I told her that I went for a seminar and that the con­doms were given to us for HIV/AIDS campaign but she didn’t believe me. I also explained to her that the bra in my bag belonged to one of my pastor’s wife who had stayed in my house dur­ing the burial ceremony of a deacon in our church but she didn’t believe me. I told her to call the pastor but she said we might have arranged everything.”
“Even when I went to dis­ciplinary committee, they failed to call all the parties to­gether to really ask them if it was true or not. My intention was not to blow up the church but to scare them,” he stated.
Parading the pastor along­side other suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Haliru Gwandu, assured the people of Edo State that “the command is doing every­thing possible to ensure crim­inality is reduced through proactive and community policing.”