To say that many Nigerians are poor is no longer news.
Sadly, poverty and corruption have begun to affect the way Nigerians reason as they would prefer to deceive and cheat others to gain favours. This style of living calls for urgent solutions.
Situations where able bodied men and women will resort to petty crime of defrauding and fleecing unsuspecting kind hearted people have now become common place in our country, especially in the cities.
From bus stops, you will find fake stranded passengers asking for money to take the next available bus. Strangely, when you visit that same bus stop the next day at the same time, you will find the same set of people, mostly women with their young children, fleecing unsuspecting passengers for more fares. They are like the graves, their greedy purses are never filled.
These notorious Nigerians take the fleecing game to offices, markets and government establishments. Places of worship are not spared as these marauding pretenders and deceivers lurk in the corners.
It was in the spirit of this fleecing game that recently a middle aged women, simply identified as Mrs. Taiwo, was arrested at the Winners Chapel in Ota, Ogun State for attempting to defraud Bishop David Oyedepo of a huge amount.
The incident happened on January 27, 2013 during the church benevolence service.
During the service, members of the public usually turn out en mass to request for one assistance or the other from the church.
It is also a time the church gives food items, clothes and other welfare packages to members of the public who are in need.
Taiwo was said to have turned up at the welfare section with a bulging stomach. She claimed to be seven months pregnant with quadruplets and would need the assistance of the church for her to undergo a caesarean section for the babies to be delivered successfully.
Taiwo had claimed that her husband had abandoned her when he discovered that she was pregnant. She went on to narrate sad tales how she had been struggling to fend for herself and was in a financial strait.
A member of the church, who witnessed the incident, said nobody watching her demeanor would turn down her plea for help.
Howbeit, it was all a show as one of the pastors could see beyond the demeanor the pleading woman had put up.
Luck ran out on Taiwo when the said pastor was “moved by the Holy Ghost” and asked female workers of the church to take Taiwo to a secluded room and conduct a search on her.
That was when the cat was let out of the bag. Taiwo, after refusing to be searched, later succumbed to threats that she will be handed over to the police.
The threat worked as Taiwo gradually pulled her gown up and revealed her bulged stomach filled with rags. She was not pregnant but had used several pieces of dirty clothes to form the bulged stomach.
One after the other, she pulled the rags on to the floor and after about 10 minutes, there was a heap of dirty clothes on the floor. Her stomach came out flat as a slate and she went down on her kneels begging and pleading the astonished church workers to spare her as she claimed poverty pushed her to deceive the man of God.
A source in the church said: “The pastor was moved by the Holy Ghost and he said he felt a nodding in his spirit that Mrs. Taiwo may be pretending .He therefore asked the female workers to take her aside into a room and search her. It was here it was discovered that she had used rags to construct a bulging stomach. She kept pulling the clothes one after the other and there was this heap of clothes on the ground. We were shocked at the extent people will go to deceive and get money. They are not even afraid that they are in the house of God. That was how we found out that she was not pregnant but had used pieces of clothes to pretend as if she was pregnant with quadruplets but the Holy Spirit exposed her.”
This was however not the first time members of the public had tried to play a fast one on the church.
It was gathered that several times needy people come with frivolous requests for church assistance but after thorough investigation, it will be discovered that the claims were false.
A pastor’s wife said: “You see all sort of characters in the church and they pretend to be in need. They have no fear of God and in a particular instance, an elderly man came to the church that he needed money to pay his rent. The church brought the money but we refused to give it to him. We told one of our pastors to go with him to his house at Sagamu to pay the rent but lo and behold on their way to Sagamu, the old called the pastor aside and whispered in his ears that they should share the money. The old man went on to confess that he did not need any money for house rent as he is a landlord but he lied to the church because he needed money for his upkeep. We later found out this baba is a pensioner and therefore has money but he was not contented. You see such cases from time to time but the Holy Ghost helps us to identify the fake church goers.”
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