An Ekiti State Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ado Ekiti District has granted bail to Pastor Noah Abraham of Christ High Commission Ministry, the pastor who asked church members to pay N310,000 to qualify for the rapture.

The pastor was arraigned on one count of false pretence and intent to defraud.

READ MORE: Ade Abraham, Pastor of Royal Christ Assembly, Bills Church Members N310,000 Each to Take Them to Heaven

“That you, Pastor Noah Abraham, on April 27, 2022 at Omuo Oke Ekiti in Omuo Magisterial District, did by false pretence and intent to defraud, presented yourself to your congregation at Christ High Commission Ministry as capable of taking them to heaven before rapture, upon payment of money ranging from N300,000 to N310,000,” the charge reads.

“The offence contravenes Section 416 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2012.”

The clergyman said that he understood the accusation when it was read, translated, and explained to him, but pleaded not guilty.

READ MORE: CAN: Pastor ‘Selling Ticket to Heaven’ Is Asking for Lesser Than Bandits’ Ransoms

Adunni Olanipekun, his counsel, pleaded with the court to give his client bail, stating that he was willing to offer a surety or sureties and assure his continued court appearances until the issue was resolved.

Inspector Johnson Okunade, the police prosecutor, did not oppose the bail application but encouraged the court to use its discretion in granting or denying release.

In his judgement, the magistrate, Titilola Olaolorun, granted the defendant bail in the amount of N100,000 with two sureties in the same amount, with the stipulation that the sureties must hold a Nigerian National Identification Card.

Olaolorun adjourned the matter to May 24, 2022.

In April, FIJ had exclusively reported how Abraham, convinced members of his church to relocate to a camp in Ekiti State with him, in order to “prepare for the end of the world”.

A source related to one of Abraham’s congregants had told FIJ that the pastor first relocated to Ekiti State from Kaduna State, where he was formerly based, in 2021.

He then later returned to Kaduna State in April to ask each member of his church to pay him N310,000 before they would be allowed to follow him to Omu-Ekiti, where “the gate of heaven will open for all of them to fly to heaven”.