The Lagos State Police Command has discontinued the case against the Senior Pastor of House on the Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, who was recently granted bail after questioning over a gun-like object found in his possession in a viral video.

It said that following the incident, wherein the pastor turned himself in at the Command’s headquarters, Ikeja, in connection with the viral video, a thorough investigation, including interrogation and a cautionary statement from Pastor Adefarasin, was carried out.

The police stated that after the probe, it was established that the object in question was a stun gun and not a lethal weapon or firearm.

“Consequent on our findings, the Lagos State Police Command has determined that there are no sufficient grounds to proceed with the matter. The case is hereby discontinued,” the Command disclosed in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, on Wednesday.

The video, which surfaced in June, showed the prominent pastor driving a Range Rover, winding down his window, and engaging with a road user while holding a black unidentified object.

The footage sparked widespread speculation online, with many alleging the object looked like a firearm.

But Pastor Adefarasin took to his official X handle to dismiss the claim.

“You might be aware of a video which has been circulating on social media showing me in what some have misunderstood as brandishing a firearm. I want to assure you of this — that was certainly not a firearm, and at no point did I point such at anyone,” he wrote.

‘Clickbaiters Looking For More Money’

During a Sunday service which was streamed live on the church’s YouTube channel, he reiterated his position, describing the public reaction as both “hurtful” and “malicious”.

“I was falsely accused of bearing a firearm, pointing a firearm at an aggressive content creator who came within personal distance,” he said. “The only thing separating him and me was maybe three-quarters of a metre and a glass. I do not have a pistol licence. I do not carry a firearm, and I pointed no firearm at anybody.”

Speaking further, he said, “We have witnessed clickbaiters just looking for more money. I probably wasn’t even their target; their target was to make more money,” he told the congregation.

But during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily in June, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, said that the use of a stun gun as a form of threat or to create fear in the mind of another constituted an offence under the law.

Jimoh explained, “Nothing is an offence under the law, except what the law states to be an offence. Even under the Firearms Act, if you fashion out anything that is not metal, like wood, and you make it look like a gun, and you use that guise to take possession of property from another person, you have committed armed robbery.

“So, pointing a stun gun at another individual and sending that threat and fear to such a person at that particular time constitutes an offence. So, the police are doing everything in line with the law.” (Channels TV)