Eight repentant Niger Delta militants ‘now pastors’

Chibuzor Chinyere, general overseer of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), says eight repentant Niger Delta militants are now pastors in the church.

In an interview with NAN on Monday, Chinyere said the militants turned a new leaf after a divine encounter through evangelism.

He said they were undergoing reformation in the church’s rehabilitation centre.

“I preached to them and many of them harkened to salvation call and gave their lives to Jesus Christ,” he said.

“Before I embarked on this move, I bought some estates to relocate them. Initially, when I preached to them, because I could not relocate them out of their place, it was easy for them to go back to their old ways.

“So, I decided that the best way to approach them is to change their environment and that became the first step of their healing process.

“These kidnappers have wives and children. So, what we did was to put their children in the free school operated by the church, and at the same time established businesses for their wives.”

The general overseer said the repentant militants were equipped with various skills through the programme, after which some of them indicated interest in becoming pastors.

“We started teaching them different skills and by the grace of God, after they acquired the skills, some said they wanted to be pastors,” he said.

“Currently, we have eight of them that are full-time pastors in OPM branches. Others are into different skills like carpentry, pipeline wielding, scaffolding, mechanic, and so on.”

The cleric also said the programme had recorded 95 percent success, as the repentant militants had not returned to crime since they surrendered.

“My target is to have these rehabilitation centres in every state of the federation to help people who roam about, because the school is free,” he added.

Editor’s note: This photo was used for illustrative purposes.