Pastor Ezekiel arrest leaves VIP allies in tricky situation

The arrest of controversial Pastor Ezekiel Odero of the New life Prayer Centre and Church has left several high profile personalities who have previously graced his well-attended crusades in an awkward position.

Information has also emerged about his links to Paul Nthenge Mackenzie of Shakahola deaths.

The influential Kilifi-based Pastor Ezekiel, as he is commonly known, was arrested yesterday over reports of “mass killings of his followers” at his New life Prayer Centre and Church at Mavueni area.

Detectives also believe Ezekiel conspired with Mackenzie to have bodies of some of the faithful who died in his church, secretly buried at Shakakhola.

This was after he reportedly fell out with Milele funeral home in Mavueni over storage and preservation fees.

After his arrest, Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the cleric will face charges linked to alleged mass killing of his followers.

“It is notified for information of the general public that today Thursday, 27th April 2023, Mr Ezekiel Ombok Odero the Head of New Life Prayer Centre and Church at Mavueni in Kilifi County has been arrested and is being processed to face criminal charges related to mass killing of his followers,” Kindiki stated on his twitter page.

Public figures

The CS disclosed that Ezekiel’s church had been shut down and that the over 100 people who were at the premises had been “evacuated and will be required to record statements.”

Detectives handling the case told People Daily Pastor Ezekiel is linked to indoctrination of the public in relation to his colleague, Pastor Mackenzie, the owner of Shakahola farm in Kilifi where over 100 bodies of his followers believed to have starved to death were recovered.

His arrest and arraignment today raises questions on whether some public figures who have attended his crusades across the country knew the goings-on in the church.

The preacher stole headlines in November last year when he drew a huge crowd estimated at over 60,000 at Kasarani Stadium.

And early last month, he pulled an estimated crowd of more than 30,000 at Kirembe Grounds in Kisumu for a religious crusade. All the two crusades were graced by Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, wife of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Yesterday, after the news of Pastor Ezekiel’s arrest spread, Ms Gachagua spoke out for the first time about the Shakahola horrors, urging Kenyans not to use sins committed by one person to condemn the entire church.

“You cannot condemn all Christians because of one criminal. A criminal is a criminal, alone, a terrorist is a terrorist, alone, and a murderer is a murderer. There is nothing like collective justice. We must not keep quiet as the blanket condemnation of Christians and the labeling of Christians as criminals goes on.”

Ezekiel was arrested early in the morning and taken to Mombasa for questioning and later detained.

Wearing his white robe, Odero arrived at the Coast Region police headquarters driving his luxurious white Lexus LX570 escorted by two police cars.

On arrival at the headquarters, the preacher emerged from his vehicle holding his Bible in his right hand as he walked calmly towards the office of the regional DCI boss before he was ushered in for questioning after posing for a few photos.

He maintained composure as he smiled at the cameras before shaking hands with his lawyer Jared Magolo who led him to the DCI offices.

A multi-agency team drawn from Kilifi and Mombasa raided his highly guarded Mavueni premises at 4am on Thursday.

Ezekiel, however, cooperated with detectives who found him praying for congregants and he requested the detectives to allow him a few minutes to finish the prayer session. He then drove to Mombasa. Magolo said his client was being grilled in connection to cases of deaths that had been reported inside his church.

“The State agencies are on a fishing expedition. I have been informed that he is being investigated in relation to deaths reported at his house, but let those charged with the duty of carrying out investigations do thorough investigations instead of tainting my client’s name,” he said.

Ezekiel was later booked at Makupa Police Station in Mombasa after he was grilled by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and those from the Anti-Terror Police Unit for over five hours.

Addressing the press at the regional Police headquarters, Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha said Ezekiel was arrested in connection with allegations of an unknown number of deaths reported inside his premises.

“Going forward we have closed the prayer centre and the pastor is being investigated on allegations of deaths inside his premises,” Onyancha said.

She further noted that the prayer centre, Ezekiel’s residential house, the church and school had been declared a crime scene and over 100 faithful found camping inside the church had been ordered to leave.

“The regional security team has ordered all the worshippers, workers and any other person inside the centre to leave with immediate effect, those who are ailing will be evacuated to the hospital to continue with their treatment,” she added.

It has further emerged that detectives are pursuing lines of evidence linking Ezekiel to the deaths of faithful inside his church amid reports that bodies of his followers are secretly taken to Shakahola for burial.

Ongoing investigations have uncovered possibilities of close links between Ezekiel and leader of the Shakahola starvation cult Mackenzie.

Mourtary fees

Detectives familiar with investigations hinted that a preliminary probe had established that the New life Prayer Centre and Church preacher might have worked closely with Mackenzie to conceal mass deaths that occurred at his Mavueni church.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that Pastor Ezekiel is alleged to have ferried bodies of those who died inside his church at Mavueni to Shakahola through the help of Mackenezie. The bodies are believed to have been removed from the Milele funeral home after the pastor differed with the funeral home management,” reads part of a police report.

Further reports indicate that Ezekiel is believed to have differed with the management of Milele Funeral Burial and Benevolent Services in Mbogolo area near Kilifi town, after allegedly failing to pay mortuary fees for a number of bodies collected from his church.

“The mortuary warned the pastor to collect the bodies or pay preservation fees, however, the adamant pastor collected the bodies and put them inside a lorry and ferried them to Shakahola where they are believed to have been secretly buried,” police say.

The number of people suspected to have died inside the church, their identity and gender remains unclear.

Ongoing investigations, however, have revealed that hundreds of ailing patients, mostly women, were removed from wards to the church where purported healing prayers were being performed upon them.

“Ezekiel would indoctrinate his followers, with sick relatives, to bring them to the church for him to perform miracles. Many of the patients who were terminally ill would have been reported to have died awaiting prayers at the church; these deaths were never reported to police,” said police.