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The pastor of an independent "Christian" group in Côte d'Ivoire, the Patmos Dieudonné Church, has been put under a detention order
By Guy Aimé Eblotié | Ivory Coast
Police in the Ivorian city of Abidjan have arrested a man named Joachin Kouamé N'guessan who claims to be "the Lord Jesus" of the Patmos Dieudonné Church.
"He was arrested for disturbing the peace and placed under a detention order," said an anonymous judicial source and a church official who witnessed the March 31 arrest of the religious leader.
N'guessan was apprehended "in the presence of a member of the General Directorate of Religious Services" of Ivory Coast and placed in Abidjan House of Arrest and Correction (MACA).
"This morning when they came to get him, they told us that they just wanted to interview him at the request of their superiors," said the church official who witnessed the arrest.
Dozens of members of the Patmos Dieudonné Church gathered at the religious headquarters and stayed into the night.
Some kept up-to-date through phone calls, while others were informed via social media, where between mockery and indignation, the case of their pastor spread very quickly.
Fulfilling the end of time
At the origin of this arrest are the preaching videos of N'guessan, who presents himself as the reincarnation of Christ.
Always dressed in a white cassock with his head covered with a white towel, N'guessan, preaching in French and in Baule (a native language of central Côte d'Ivoire), has been making the rounds for weeks on social media.
The "Baule Jesus" as he is called by Internet users, claims to have come to fulfill the end of time, the date of which depends on him.
"Your dirty laundry, wash it! Get ready, pack your bags, get ready because we're going to take off soon," he tells his followers, whom he calls "the chosen ones".
People have parodied him on TikTok and Facebook.
Even though the vast majority find N'guessan's comments funny, some Ivorian bloggers have called attention to the "risks" revealed by his messages and have asked the Ministry of the Interior to "take up its responsibilities".
"I find the Baule Jesus anything but funny," said an Ivorian blogger named Jean Christian Konanon in a March 26 post on Facebook.
"The history of apocalyptic messianic churches in rural areas that have turned into a drama is a testimony. It has already happened, including in Africa. We are no longer in the realm of fantasy since there have been precedents," he warned.
The Patmos Dieudonné Church was founded in western Côte d'Ivoire in 1976 by Nahomie Aya Yao, 79, who is better known as "Prophetess Nahomie".
As the prophetess has aged, N'guessan has emerged in the last several years as the face of this church. And up till now there have been no major incidents.
The prophetess has been welcomed on state media and the inauguration of the world headquarters of her church was done in the presence of thousands of faithful and local administrative and political authorities.
For more than a decade, the prayer camp where the religious leader was arrested, has been welcoming believers who seek solutions to various spiritual problems.
Weakened by the weight of age, the founder's public appearances have been fewer and fewer since 2017. This has given a larger platform to N'guessan who joined her in the 1990s.
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