Netizens have called on the Senior Pastor of House on the Rock, Paul Adefarasin, to own up and admit to possessing a gun.
Mr Adefarasin came under public criticism after the video showing him holding a pistol-like object and rebuking a car spotter filming his Range Rover went viral over the weekend.
Without revealing what the pistol-like object he held in the viral video is, Mr Adefarasin repeatedly denied that he had a firearm and pointed any object at anyone.
“I want to assure you of this — that that was certainly not a firearm, and at no point did I point such at anyone,” Mr Adefarasin said in a statement on Saturday.
The cleric also denied the allegation during his sermon on Sunday, claiming he was “hurt” and “falsely accused of carrying a firearm and posting firearm at an aggressive content creator.”
“Mr Adefarasin, who did not disclose to his congregation the object he held in the video, also blamed the media and bloggers for reporting the incident just to make money.
He stated, “The enticement of the enemy is always the love of money and the root of all evil. What we have had to witness was clickbaiters just looking for more money. I probably wasn’t even their target.
“Their target was to make more money. And I was falsely accused of bearing a firearm, pointing a firearm at an aggressive content creator who came within personal distance.”
In response to Mr Adefarasin’s denial, Nigerians on social media have continued to ask him to reveal what he held in the viral video.
On Instagram, Verdcy_giane said, “No, pastor, I don’t agree with you on this. Many terms you have used in this speech are wrong, and if we were to interpret the video properly, you chose to slow down; there was no form of aggression on the content creator’s end; rather, it was from you. You could have easily described what you held and owned up that we are human, and we make mistakes.”
Another Instagram user, @3sha_diamond, said, “Oh God in heaven… What did I hear? Every sentence was different, confusing and has nothing to do with the point. What were you holding? Raise that up and stop gaslighting us.”
“Falsely accused how? The video was clear; he could have said it wasn’t a real gun, but also, what was the purpose of flashing it? This is a pastor! Also, aggressive content creator? How? At what point did the guy show any intent to be aggressive? Wasn’t he the one who stopped his car?” @royaldivalee said.
On X, @Jiduwah said, “Dead Pastor Paul Adefarasin. There was no imminent danger. There was no aggression. There was no chaos. Other road users moved freely. The content creator was not within personal space.”
He added, “There was only one aggressor: The one who slowed down his car, the one who wound down the glass of his car, the one who threatened, the one who showed an object that looks like a gun, the one who is lying.
“drpenking said, “Pastor Paul Adefarasin intelligently avoided talking about what we saw in that video. He didn’t say it was a taser. He didn’t say it was a stun gun. He didn’t say it was pepper spray. Why? Because he knows experts will analyse and see that it wasn’t any of those things. So he just hid under the umbrella of “It wasn’t a pistol.”
He added, “Then he immediately fell back to the common defence of all so-called men of God; they are persecuting him. We saw something, sir, and all we are asking is, what did we see? He refused to say anything. And the very huge congregation was there, clapping. For what? Even when he didn’t say anything.”
