{"id":174168,"date":"2025-08-14T08:46:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T07:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers"},"modified":"2025-08-14T09:48:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:48:01","slug":"pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Arrested for Flogging 20 Children in Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>One Pastor Ifediorah Onyeibor Joseph has been arrested by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command for allegedly subjecting children, particularly minors, to dehumanization.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson of the command, SP Grace Iringe-Oko said in a statement that the 20 children were rescued after the distressing video emerged online.<\/p>\n

She explained that the pastor had organized a three-day program for children in the church for a \u201cspiritual cleaning\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the police, the pastor claimed that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to conduct the purported spiritual cleansing on the innocent children.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon receiving this information, Operatives from the Rivers State Police Command, through coordinated intelligence, arrested the pastor and several Church members at the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cA thorough investigation is currently underway to unravel the circumstances surrounding this incident. Further updates will be made public as more information becomes available\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. One Pastor Ifediorah Onyeibor Joseph has been arrested by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command for allegedly subjecting children, particularly minors, to dehumanization. The spokesperson of the command, SP Grace Iringe-Oko said in a statement that the 20 children were rescued after the distressing video emerged online. She explained that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":174166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254,724,165],"class_list":["post-174168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria","tag-pastor","tag-police"],"yoast_head":"\nPastor Arrested for Flogging 20 Children in Rivers - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One Pastor Ifediorah Onyeibor Joseph has been arrested by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command for allegedly su ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pastor Arrested for Flogging 20 Children in Rivers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One Pastor Ifediorah Onyeibor Joseph has been arrested by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command for allegedly su ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T07:46:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T08:48:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755148822.12158.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"977\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"542\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Pastor Arrested for Flogging 20 Children in Rivers\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-14T07:46:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-14T08:48:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers\"},\"wordCount\":160,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755148822.12158.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"pastor\",\"Police\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/pastor-arrested-for-flogging-20-children-in-rivers\",\"name\":\"Pastor Arrested for Flogging 20 Children in Rivers - 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