Obinim arrested over GHc11.5m ritual fraud – Police

The Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service has revealed to Starr News that the founder of the International God’s Way Church Bishop Daniel Obinim has been arrested for an GHC11.5 million fraud.

Public Relations Officer of the Police CID ASP Joseph Benefo Darkwa stated on Starr Today that Obinim would later be handed over to DOVVSU to be investigated for publicly flogging two teenage members of his church.

According to ASP Darkwa, a complaint was lodged with the Police in Tema by a businessman who indicated that he handed over an amount of GHC11.5 million to Obinim to perform a ritual for him but the pastor failed to perform the ritual and has also failed to refund the money.

He clarified that Obinim did not turn himself in and was arrested over the fraud case.

ASP Darkwa, however, confirmed that Obinim and one of his associates have been charged with physical and verbal assault for flogging a pregnant girl and her boyfriend.

The police officer also stated that the pastor has been transferred to the Police headquarters in Accra from the Tema Police station for further questioning after his congregants massed up at the Police station.

Meanwhile, investigations into reports that Obinim publicly flogged two young adults of his church would commence after the investigations in the GHC11.5 million fraud case.

The alleged fornication is said to have resulted in a pregnancy that was aborted by the young adults.

The flogging is said to have been captured and broadcast on the church's TV channel and later went viral on social media.

Following the release of the footage on social media and the subsequent public condemnation, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, reported Bishop Obinim to the Accra Regional Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVSSU), while another person also lodged a complaint against the bishop at the Tema Regional Police.

A private legal practitioner, Lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu, has also dragged Bishop Obinim to court for flogging the two.

Lawyer Sosu is seeking an order from the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court that would protect what he described as the fundamental human rights of members of Bishop Obinim’s church.