The police in Bayelsa State have arrested Mr. Sunday Otasi for allegedly killing his two sons.
He was alleged to have forced them to drink Sniper, a pesticide, after accusing them of being possessed.
It was gathered that Otasi, 42, who hails from Agbobiri-Okodia in Yenagoa Local Government, took his three sons, Success Otasi, 14, Miracle Otasi, 12, and Godstime Otasi, 10, to a bush along Glory Drive Road at Igbogene in Yenagoa.
The suspect was alleged to have tied his children in the bush with the help of his younger brother, Levi Ayah and forced the poisonous substance down their throats.
Trouble was said to have started when a Yenagoa prophet, Goerge Odoko, of George Odoko Outreach Ministries allegedly told the man last September that his children were possessed.
The Nation learnt that the prophet allegedly insisted that the evil spirit in the children caused the suspect’s illness.
Following the alleged prophecy, the father was alleged to have subjected his children to inhuman treatment.
His relatives reportedly joined in the maltreatment of the three children, alleging that the separated mother of the kids bewitched them.
But Otasi denied killing his sons, claiming he only brought the children to Yenagoa on December 29 to be delivered at Prophet Odoko’s church.
“I could not get the deliverance done because the prophet did not attend to them. I decided to hand over the children to my younger brother, Levi, to return them to his mother in the village.
“I don’t know what my brother did to my children on the way to the village,” he said.
However, the eldest son, Master Success, who survived the poisonous liquid, countered the claim of his father.
He said his father and Levi, now at large, took them to the bush and gave them Sniper to drink.
The boy, who spoke at a hospital in Yenagoa, said his father deceived them by telling them that he was taking them to a church in Yenagoa.
He said on their way, the suspect diverted them to a bush where they were tied and given Sniper to drink.
Success said: “My father came to take us from our grandmother and told us that we were going to a church in Yenagoa, but when we reached the road, he and his brother took us to the bush and tied me and my younger brothers. He gave us Sniper to drink.
“I managed to escape, crawling to the road after I used my legs to remove the rope. People saw me and took me to hospital.”
Confirming the incident, Police Commissioner Mr. Aminu Selah said the father had made confessional statements.
He said the police had mounted a manhunt for the fleeing suspect, adding that investigations were on to arrest those involved in the killing.
Saleh urged parents and guardians to show love to their children and wards, adding that the public should avoid jungle justice.
