Popular Pastor nabbed with stolen vehicle says-I thought my SUV was a blessing (Photo)

A 32-year-old Presbyterian pastor from Umuahia, Abia
State, Rev. Titus Onwuchekwa has been arrested for
buying a 2005 edition of Mitsubishi Pajero for just
N350,000.

Paraded alongside two notorious stolen car dealers
by the police during the week,he explained that
he
thought God had brought a blessing his way.
Onwuchekwa was paraded with the car dealers, 32-
year-old Felix Osas, who sold the vehicle and 32-
year-old Ndibe Samuel.

Ordinarily, a used 2005 edition of Mitsubishi Pajero
is sold for between N1.4m and N1.8m but when Osas
presented himself as the seller, he told Onwuchekwa
that he could give up the vehicle for N500,000,Punch
reports..

Onwuchekwa, who is popularly called ‘My father, my
father’ in his church circles in Umuahia, said he had
come to Lagos to attend a Christian programme when
he sighted the 2005 Mitsubishi Pajero in Alaba area
of Ojo, Lagos and he dialled the number of the seller
pasted on the car.

“He gave me the price of N500,000 but I told him
that I could only afford N350,000 and after we
haggled a little, he agreed to sell the car. He said he
would sow the car as a seed into my life for that
amount provided I pray for him regularly.

“He said he needed regular prayers and I paid him
N350,000 with a promise that anytime he needed
prayer, he could call me and I would always pray for
him.”

When asked if the cheap price of the vehicle did not
raise his suspicion at all during the transaction,
Onwuchekwa said he believed it was indeed a
blessing that had come his way.

“I even went home to share the testimony of how I
bought the vehicle,” he said.
What about the vehicle particulars and the Customs
papers presented to him, Onwuchekwa said they all
bore the names of Osas, which was what doused
every suspicion he had.

But these are not enough to exonerate Onwuchekwa
who continued to maintain his innocence.
Osas explained that few weeks after Onwuchekwa
bought the Pajero, he contacted him again and asked
to buy a 2001 Toyota Camry for N250,000, a vehicle
which under a normal circumstance, he would have
sold for at least N900,000.

This proved to be the nail on the coffin for Rev.
Onwuchekwa as the police said he must have known
he was buying a stolen vehicle if he did not mind
coming back for a second car despite the suspicious
price of the vehicles.

Osas, who runs Happy Home Motors, was all smiles
as he narrated how Onwuchekwa fell victim of his
criminal trade.

“I don’t think he actually knew that he was buying a
stolen vehicle. If he did not come back for more, the
police would not have arrested him along with us. I
don’t steal these vehicles myself.

“In fact, I don’t know where they came from. I got
them from one of my friends, who told me to re-
register them in my name. When I asked him where
he got them, he confided in me that they were
stolen.

“I bought the Pajero I sold to the Pastor for
N300,000. I have only bought two vehicles from him
before. I also bought the Camry from my friend for
N300,000. It is the same one the pastor wanted to
buy for N250,000.”

Osas said he had been selling vehicles for seven
years after he realised that his initial business as a
mechanic was not yielding profit as he wanted.
The young man did not show any remorse as he
explained that it was the business he had been using
to feed his family.

“I learnt car sales from my uncle and decided to
establish a business of my own seven years ago. I
actually did not set out to start selling stolen
vehicles. It just happened that the prices were too
cheap for me to avoid it.”

Samuel on the other hand, said he was not a stolen
car dealer. He explained that he simply bought a
vehicle from his in-law, which turned out to be a
stolen vehicle.

“He told me that the 2001 model was fairly used and
I bought it for N700,000. All the documents bear his
name, so I did not suspect it might have been stolen.
I am just a medicine store owner, not a criminal,” he
said.