“This is not robbery, it is pure professionalism,” said arrested pastor Chuks Ingalis Kelvin, according to the Daily Trust. “Every profession has its own method. The police have their own, lawyers have their own, even journalists have their own way. What I did is pure business and survival instinct.”

Fake pastors have caused problems in many African nations such as Ghana, where a church planting boom has left denominations struggling to keep opportunists out of pulpits. “The phenomenon is serious,” said Isaac Mills Owoo, South/West Sector Head of the Ghana Baptist Conference, to CT. “People with ulterior motives are entering the ministry … as a way to get rich quickly.” And religious freedom protectionsprevent church leadership from stopping such pastors unless their activities are proven to be criminal.