The Presiding Pastor-in-charge of the First Baptist Church, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Dr. Olukayode Ayinde, said on Saturday that he was not the person arraigned before an Ekiti State Magistrate’s Court for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old-girl.
Ayinde, who said he had been inundated with calls and visits since the news of the arraignment broke out on Thursday, said it was a matter of coincidence of names, saying the cleric, with the name Dr. Olukayode Samuel Ayinde, remanded for alleged rape at the custodial centre, was another person who belonged to another church.
The cleric, who spoke at a press conference in Ado Ekiti, said the clarification became necessary to set the records straight and prevent his hard earned name and reputation, built over the years, from being tarnished in the public domain for offence not committed by him.
He also cautioned those attempting to tarnish his name by linking him with the incident to desist, as he threatened that failure to do so might lead him to seek redress in court.
“I have been receiving calls from Baptists and members of the public on why the purveyors of the news cleverly linked me with the accused person,” he said.
According to the charge, the defendant, one Rev. Ayinde ,was allegedly charged “for offence reasonably suspected to be rape of a 12-year-old-girl, who, alongside, her parents, are living together within Ado Ekiti Magisterial District sometime in August, 2020”.
But the Baptist pastor said, “I wish to categorically state that after much finding, the said Olukayode Samuel Ayinde, remanded at the Correctional Service for rape, is of another church and therefore has nothing to do with me or the church I preside over.
I have never been a suspect nor accused for such or any other wrong doing by anyone both home and abroad. I am therefore not the one being remanded for rape. I am a man of unimpeachable and impeccable character, not known for any form of frivolities or riotousness”.
Ayinde, who said the overwhelming concerns showed by his loved ones over the mistaken identity and coincidence of name that compelled him to make the public clarification, said it would also rescue people bent on defaming others from their self-inflicted delusions.