Nigeria has a big problem: the country is cursed with a recent glut of kidnappings. For enterprising criminals, this has become a daily activity. Just last month, 50 people were kidnapped in a raid in the village of Bagega, a small mining town in the north of Nigeria.

There are so many kidnappings, in fact, that people now have to contend with fake ones instead. There’s a cottage industry of fakers who use the fear of death to extort people they know out of money. One such scammer is Pastor Adegoke Adewuyi, who decided that the best way to get rich was to kidnap himself, and trick his flock into paying for his “release”. His congregation was actually in the middle of getting the money together when the police busted down the door to Adewuyi hotel room, and arrested him, along with his accomplice.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned pastor Adewuyi’s conduct, saying it was ungodly and unbiblical. Chairman of the association, Rev. Joshua Orikogbe said such conducts bring Christendom into disrepute.

Meanwhile, a church member of pastor Adewuyi revealed that he was in the habit of engaging in fraudulent activities, including forging signatures to withdraw money from the church’s accounts.

Let’s recap: a known thief, elevated to a position of authority, abused his power and scammed his own flock. When that wasn’t paying the bills, he kicked it into high gear. This time, it blew up in his face.

Honestly, this sort of thing doesn’t surprise us nonbelievers. Taking people’s money by offering them a place in the afterlife is already a con. You are literally charging people to sell them piece of mind. Orders of weirdos in outfits have been making large claims and demanding people’s money for a long time. It’s not that much of a stretch to imagine someone taking this deceit to the next level. Who knows what kind of innovations pastors like Adewuyi have in store?

Did anyone learn a lesson in all of this? No. If you hoped that perhaps Ademuyi getting arrested might have taught him a lesson, then allow me to dispel such illusions. He’s blaming Satan for what happened. You see, it had to be the devil that possessed the poor man, since the only alternative would have been to take accountability for his actions.

I got 10 bucks that says he’ll eventually be forgiven, and goes right back to preaching once the heat has died down. I mean, his living appears to rely primarily on stealing money from his own church to enrich himself. Since Christians are always falling over themselves to forgive scumbags, all he has to do is say he’s repented, loves god, and they will give him the red carpet treatment.