The family members of Zachariah Barnabas, a drummer at the Kingdom of Glory Church in Lagos who went missing recently, have alleged that Pastor Olayinka Samuel, the General Overseer of the church, is attempting to hinder an investigation into his whereabouts.

City Round gathered that the 23-year-old who had been a paid drummer at the church for about four years went missing after he allegedly attended a programme at the church on October 11, 2023.

Speaking with The PUNCH correspondent on the telephone, Barnabas’ sister, Janet, accused the church GO of telling the family different stories, including raising a false alarm that her brother had been found in a hotel.

She said, “Barnabas left home on October 7, 2023, to play a drum set at a church. He had been robbed of his phone earlier, so we could not reach him directly. He was supposed to return on the 10th. But he called my mom with someone’s phone who is also a worker in the church to inform her that he wouldn’t come home until the next day. That was the last time we heard from him.

“The case was reported to the police station in Igando, but we didn’t see anything concrete until a few days later when one of us called them. The officer claimed the pastor said the police shouldn’t come for an investigation until a particular day when his members would be around. When the family went to the church, the pastor started screaming that we were disturbing his service.”

Also speaking, Barnabas’s brother, Israel said, “The pastor told us not to involve the police because my brother is a cultist, so I asked whether he had seen him smoke or pierce any part of his body.

“Another time, he said Barnabas had been sleeping with about four girls in the church. And I kept wondering how that got to do with his missing.

“It’s been over two months now, and we have not seen Barnabas. We want the government to help us compel the pastor to tell us where Barnabas is because it was in his care that we last heard from him.”

In his response, Samuel accused the family of trying to soil his name and the church’s reputation, adding that the missing drummer had come to the church on the evening of October 10 for a Bible study.

“Normally, when they finish their drumming around 9 pm everyone goes to their house, which is what he did. I don’t know anything about it. I drove out of the church and went to my house.

“They said the mother had gone to the area command to make a report. They were no longer accusing any member of the church, but they are now accusing me directly, saying that I had something to do about it. What will I do with him? They are trying to tarnish my name and damage the image of the church,” he told our correspondent.