Celestial Church Distances Itself from Pastor, Wife Arrested for Drug Trafficking

The Celestial Church of Christ Worldwide has disowned a cleric, Afolabi Hodonu, and his wife, who were recently arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency over alleged possession of illicit drugs.

Operatives of the NDLEA had on Thursday arrested the couple at the Gbaji checkpoint in Lagos, where 11 kilogrammes of skunk were reportedly recovered from hidden compartments in their vehicle. Hodonu had claimed to be the Shepherd in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Agonvi Sea Beach, in the Sakpo area of Seme border, Badagry.

The agency had earlier on March 30 arrested a fake security agent, Sunday Samuel, at the same checkpoint while transporting 24.5 kilogrammes of skunk from Seme border to Lagos. Investigations into that seizure reportedly led to the arrest of the pastor and his wife.

Reacting to the incident on Sunday, the Head of Media and Publicity of the church, Kayode Ajala, said administrative records confirmed that Hodonu and his wife do not belong to the Ketu mainstream of the Celestial Church of Christ under the leadership of Reverend Emmanuel Oshoffa.

Ajala expressed concern that the name of the church had been dragged into the controversy, describing the allegation as a despicable act. He added that a task force would be dispatched to the Seme area of Badagry for a fact-finding mission to ascertain the full details surrounding the incident.