A Nigerian pastor has been arrested for allegedly chaining his nine-year-old son in a room for more than a month with a padlock and denying him food,
police have said.
Pastror Muyiwa Adejobi, 40, had been on the run since Friday, when police rescued the emaciated boy from a room near a church in Atan in south-western Ogun state after a tip-off.
The pastor told investigators that he had locked up his son to teach him to stop him stealing, AFP reports.
It quotes police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi as saying:
The man said his son was always stealing his things and to stop the habit, he needed to chain him with [a] lock so that he would not run away.
“It is shocking and baffling that a man who claims to be a man of God could be involved in a such a barbaric and inhuman act.”
Mr Adejobi said the boy was found chained to the ground on Friday, adding:
He was in a very bad shape, greatly emaciated because of poor feeding. The boy told us his father was not giving him food regularly and that he had been locked up in the room for over one month.”
Pastor Adejobi has not yet commented on the allegation.
