“Our son did not commit suicide, nor buried in evil forest”- Family
Five months after his mysterious death, family members of late Pastor Prosper Ugboke have called on the Police and other legal bodies to formally inquiry and examine the facts that led to the death of the young Pastor.
While urging the Police not to handle the issue with levity, appeal that they invite and question the Senior Pastor of the Flame House International Church, in Nnewi, Anambra state, Pastor Ifeanyi Nbonu over the circumstances that led to the unfortunate death of their son, so as to establish the truth.
According to the family members, the late 30 year old Prosper was with the Senior Pastor of the Flame House International Church, in Nnewi, Anambra state, Pastor Ifeanyi Nbonu before he was hypnotized and eventually died mysteriously.
It should be recalled that, a national daily (name withheld) published a report on August 26 this year that the late Prosper jumped down from a two storey building and died after he was jilted by his lover whom he had spent so much on.
Mother of the late Prosper in an interview with Journalists while calling for justice, said all she wants is for the truth over her son’s death to prevail.
Accordingly, she said “my son never had any mental challenge. I felt so bad when we saw the report that my son, a Pastor died because of a woman. They should tell me what really killed my son.
“I am sure he died after he went to that man’s house. Pastor Ifeanyi Nbonu must tell us what he did to my son because he knows what we do not know. I want the Police to help investigate the matter”.
Also, elder sister to the late Prosper, Uchechi Ugboke, while calling on the Police and other relevant bodies to invite and investigate Pastor Ifeanyi Christian Nbonu disclosed that whosoever hurriedly spoke to journalists did so to cover up their evil act.
She said, “the family source they claim spoke to the press is not true. The person’s name was not mentioned. The person even said Prosper was dumped in the evil forest claiming the way he died was abominable, that is also not true because we have pictures and clips of his (Prosper) burial. He was buried in our family land. In our tradition, the corpse of a young unmarried person whose parents are still alive, is not buried in the family compound. He was buried in the community land in our hometown, Neru Nmuchieze in Umunochi Local government of Abia State.
“Prosper is my kid brother, we discovered after he went to the University as a student he met this man called Pastor Ifeanyi Nbonu, from Anambra State, the name of his church is Flame House International, Nnewi.”
She told our correspondent that, Prosper was very intelligent and gained admission into University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN), Enugu state in 2011 but two years after, he called that we should forgive him that he had been having carryovers.
“I was surprised, and so I asked him what was going on with him, he replied that, he does not understand. And when we got to know he was with Pastor Ifeanyi, my mother warned him that she was not comfortable with him and that if he wants to continue as a Pastor, no problem but he should not be under him.
“He did not listened. That was how I saw him last and the next thing was for Pastor Ifeanyi to bring Prosper’s corpse for burial. He brought the news that my brother jumped through the toilet window from a 2 storey building.”
She added that, the burial service was even conducted by the General Overseer of the Flame House International two weeks after he died.
In her submission, the late Prosper’s fiancée who did not want her name mentioned said she suspects that Pastor Ifeanyi Nbonu did something to Prosper before he died.
The bereaved fiancée who is also the Church Administrator said “every claim in that newspaper report is false; he did not committ suicide. To be honest with you on how he died, I was the closest person to him, and he confided in me on some issues. The whole saga happened few days after a church program when Pastor Ifeanyi called for a pastors retreat at Nnewi Anambra State, which necessitated that all of us, Pastor Prosper and I and other pastors to attend.
“I did not jilt the late Prosper, our wedding plan was still ongoing until his mysterious death. I stood by him because I had a job, Prosper did not sponsor me, rather it was I who supported him through his education. My dad sponsored my education up to the University and not Prosper”.
While narrating all that transpired prior to Prosper death, she said, Pastor Ifeanyi’s wife who just dgave birth to a baby invited her to their house for “omugwor”. So, she was already in the house when Prosper came from Enugu for a retreat in Nnewi.
Accordingly, she said “at this period, Prosper no longer stayed in his family house in Nnewi, but lives with Pastor Ifeanyi. And so, on Sunday we were all in the church but because I was so exhausted with work, I decided to take a nap, but within just few minutes, I opened my eyes and I saw my fiancées eyes were very red. This happened to him after sitting on a particular chair. I don’t know what took him to that seat, formerly he used to stay with the Pastors but he was made to sit on it, like close to the altar and Pastor Ifeanyi. I had never seen his eyes so red. I was just looking at him. Then, Pastor Ifeanyi gave him the microphone, the next and only thing he said was demons are here and started praying in tongues.
“After the service, when we got home, I realize there was a friction, no free communication between Pastor Ifeanyi and Prosper, the next day (Monday) was Board of Directors’ meeting and when they returned the whole atmosphere changed, I was in the kitchen helping the pastor’s wife when Prosper walked in speedily and called my name, three times.
“I had to rush into the room. When I asked what the problem was, he said I should just pray for him, I held him and prayed.
“When he left, I saw and asked Pastor Ifeanyi what was going on, he said that Prosper has mental issues. He told me he (Prosper) is going to go through three temptations in life and the final temptation is when he would want to leave the church, but he would not be allowed to leave.
“It was then Prosper walked in, he warned that I should be careful and mind how close I get. So, I told him what the Pastor Ifeanyi said and he went straight to him saying, I am trying to save you and your ministry from a woman, I am not under any demonic influence. I have seen that you are not a good man, I am trying to protect your vision and you are going after a woman.”
She added that, it was at this moment that the Pastor’s wife walked in and asked what the issue was. Prosper told her, he was trying to protect papa over a woman and he is telling his fiancée that he is under a demonic influence, “I will leave with my fiancée”, he declared. At this point, I was very scared.
The fiancée who is currently in Abuja explained that “the whole twist happened the following day when Pastor Ifeanyi called Promise, Pastor Perfect and one other Pastor for a closed door meeting. After everything, they came to a particular resolution that Prosper has mental issues and foundational curse, it was then I heard the Pastors praying for Pastor Ifeanyi, saying he will stumble into greatness.
“After they dispersed, I was restless and when Prosper came to me, I could remember, he told me we are going to visit his biological parents on Sunday, I was very excited. I got prepared, but all of a sudden more meetings were held which kept me uncomfortable.
“All of a sudden, I saw Prosper packing his things, I asked him why and where he was going to, he said he is going back to Enugu, I asked what he was going to do there.
“It was at this moment I knew that there was a big problem on ground, and so I needed to discuss with my fiancé to know what was going on. And so, I rushed upstairs to check but Prosper was no longer there, I was shouting where is Prosper, how could he have left without seeing me, Pastor Ifeanyi and his wife entered and said they thought I saw Prosper off, I replied no, and it was very unusual of Prosper.
“I had to summon the courage, picked my phone I asked him why he left without seeing me and that I wanted him to come back because there was something I wanted to discuss with him, but he didn’t come back. At this time the Pastor’s wife walked in and was shouting at me. I hung the call and that was the last time I heard from Prosper.
“I waited for him to call me, I did not hear from him, I became worried. It came to a point, his phone was switched off. So, by 8:00pm I did not hear from him”.
She disclosed that the last conversation they had was that he is preparing for their marriage.
Narrating her last discussions with Prosper, she said “that night I slept, but the following morning I started calling around 7am including numbers of the people staying with him but they were all not picking, I called up to about four of them, they weren’t picking up later on one other person now picked and said Prosper was misbehaving.
“I insisted he gave the phone to him (Prosper) and he warned me to stay strong and that they are after his life. That was the last thing he said.
“I think around afternoon, by then Pastor Ifeanyi had already gotten the news and when I called, they told me he fell from 2 storey building and that they rushed him to medical centre.
“Well, to cut the story short, lo and behold when the scan result came out, it was his femur and the anchor bones that were broken which could have been be fixed so they took him to medical centre that night from medical centre the following morning they rushed him to Enugu orthopedic hospital that is the following morning. At this point, I was no longer myself, so the pastors wife granted my permission that I should go and see him, so when I got there, he was still devastated like, immediately he saw me he held my hands, he kissed my hand and placed it on his chest. He whispered to me that if they give me any food that I should not eat in the hospital, I said okay.
She said Prosper was in the hospital for three (3) days before he died, “hmmm, the way he died was mysterious, like he just got up in the morning and said my chest, as though it was a spiritual stab. They rushed to call a nurse who fixed oxygen on him. The next thing they called me out and took me somewhere else, I asked where they were taking me, and the next thing I saw was an ambulance, what they told me was that they want to go and carry out surgery on him. Nobody told me that he had died, later in the afternoon, I was disturbed but I did not observe anybody crying until in the evening whe I cited one of his cousins crying, I now saw his brother, Chisom who went with them in the ambulance. He was the one who told me that Prosper had died.
“As I was crying, I saw Pastor Ifeanyi blaming brother Chisom fornletting me know Prosper was dead. I don’t know what he was trying to protect.
“They drove me out of the hospital in a car and I asked, where they were taking me to. I insisted. I wanted to see his corpse, if truly he was dead. They just me somewhere else, at this point, I could not trust anyone around me, I was now scared of everybody around me.
“The only person that came to my mind was my mother, I know my mother cannot deceive me. I took my phone and called my mother who came to purchase goods in the village, to take back to Abuja. She left whatever she was doing, traced me and took me away.
Refuting the report that Prosper was dumped in the forest, she said, the church arranged for the casket conducted the bury with the father’s full consent.
Efforts to get Pastor Ifeanyi to speak failed, however, in the published report, when contacted by the reporter, the State Police Spokesman DSP Tochukwu Ikenga said the incident was not brought before the Police command.
According to him “there is no such information like that before me, and I want to thank you for the privileged information. I will escalate this to the police manager within the area for necessary action please,”
