VIRAL VIDEO: LAGOS POLICE DROP CASE AGAINST PASTOR ADEFARASIN, CONFIRM OBJECT WAS A STUN GUN
Read Time:2 Minute, 30 Second
By: Sefiu Ajape
The Lagos State Police Command has dropped the case against the Senior Pastor of House on the Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, who was recently granted bail after being questioned over a gun-like object seen in a viral video.
According to the Command, the pastor had voluntarily appeared at its headquarters in Ikeja in connection with the viral footage. A detailed investigation was subsequently conducted, which included interrogation and a cautionary statement from Pastor Adefarasin.
The police clarified that the probe confirmed the object was a stun gun and not a firearm or any lethal weapon.
“Consequent on our findings, the Lagos State Police Command has determined that there are no sufficient grounds to proceed with the matter. The case is hereby discontinued,” the Command said in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, on Wednesday.
The video, which emerged in June, showed the cleric driving a Range Rover, lowering his window, and interacting with a road user while holding a black object that many online speculated was a firearm.
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Pastor Adefarasin, however, dismissed the claim on his official X handle.
“You might be aware of a video which has been circulating on social media showing me in what some have misunderstood as brandishing a firearm. I want to assure you of this — that was certainly not a firearm, and at no point did I point such at anyone,” he wrote.
During a Sunday service livestreamed on the church’s YouTube channel, he reiterated his stance, describing the reactions as “hurtful” and “malicious.”
“I was falsely accused of bearing a firearm, pointing a firearm at an aggressive content creator who came within personal distance,” he explained. “The only thing separating him and me was maybe three-quarters of a metre and a glass. I do not have a pistol license. I do not carry a firearm, and I pointed no firearm at anybody.”
He further told the congregation, “We have witnessed clickbaiters just looking for more money. I probably wasn’t even their target; their target was to make more money.”
However, during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily in June, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, argued that using a stun gun as a form of threat could still amount to an offence.
Jimoh explained, “Nothing is an offence under the law, except what the law states to be an offence. Even under the Firearms Act, if you fashion out anything that is not metal, like wood, and you make it look like a gun, and you use that guise to take possession of property from another person, you have committed armed robbery.
“So, pointing a stun gun at another individual and sending that threat and fear to such a person at that particular time constitutes an offence. So, the police are doing everything in line with the law.”
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