North Cyprus police launched investigation on Nigerian students accused of healing sick people by touching and praying for them

North Cyprus Ministry of Health police are investigating a Nigerian, Moses Abimiku Bitrus and his colleagues who they claim were healing the sick by touching and praying for them using religion under the name of "Outreach Ministry," which according to the Ministry is a punishable crime if found guilty.  

The investigation comes after the attention of the Turkish Cypriot authorities were drawn to the Facebook page "Outreach Ministry" where recent photos and videos of Moses and his colleagues praying and healing sick Turkish Cypriot were published, which the authorities describe as a means of promoting the use of religion to heal sick people. 

Video and photos on the page showed Moses and some of his colleagues touching and praying for people who were sick in their homes.

Moses praying for a Turkish Cypriot woman

Moses, 22, a Biomedical Engineering student at one of the universities in Cyprus said they pray and heal in the Name of Jesus when he was interviewed by Turkish Cypriot daily, Yeniduze. (Interview translated from Turkish not 100 percent). 

We pray and heal in the name of Jesus, said Moses. Our message is to give good news. We do not take money praying for people.

I've been in Cyprus for two years. I study Biomedical Engineering. One day in April, while I was asleep, God appeared to me and told me to go to the villages to pray for sick people. We come together with my team of 5 people and have went to pray for the sick.

We are trying to show people the message of God, the love of Jesus. First of all, we started going to universities in May. Then we start to visit the villagers and ask them to show the people who are sick to us in the villages. We pray for the sick in the name of Jesus and they were instantly healed.

We do not take money from people. We are giving food, clothes and sometimes money to people. We allocate some of the money from our families to the people who are in need.

There is also an international organization named GLM which started in Cyprus and we are working together in partnership. The founder is Mercy Johnson Kehinde. They give food, clothes and money. It is used to help the sick and needy people.

I touch and pray for whatever area of the body the person is sick and have pain. Sometimes I touch, sometimes I want the person to touch themselves and I pray.

There is power in the name of Jesus and we are trying to heal with prayer. Believe plays a very important role, not just touching and claiming to have prayed, Moses said.

According to him, more than 10 people have been healed.

After healing the sick person, we will tell them about Jesus' love and strength and not become ill again.

Until now they have prayed and healed 3 people in Haspolat, while a person who has cancer in a village in the Karpaz area is also cured of the illness.  

We went and looked at the people we had prayed for. We pray for all sickness, he said.

I do not believe in dine either. Jesus is the son of God, sent to the world to help people. Now we have this authority and we help people. Our aim is not to overcome religion.

Our message is Good news'. It's healing the sick, giving good news. I believe that Jesus is alive. Jesus is everywhere and using me to speak and heal people.

The images on the videotape are the power of Jesus. We have not received permission from any institution or agency in Cyprus. We're not connected to anything.

If we go anywhere and they say 'please leave this place' we are leaving. We continue to visit beautiful villages. We go on a weekly basis. We will be there to show the authorities and show us sick people. If the people in the competent institutions need help, direct us and we will pray for them. I will do this when I return home.

TRNC Health Minister Faiz Sucuoglu pointed out that the so-called healing is not legal in different applications, and said that it should be evaluated and investigated.

We will begin to investigate when the notice comes. We have already heard about hijacking, we went and found it and forbidden it. Even alternative medicine in our country is forbidden. Anything that needs to be done, he said.

We can also contact the Ministry of Education and deport them from the country if they are found guilty. If they said they did not received any money from the people, we will go and find out from those who is said to be sick and find out if they gave them any money.

Not getting money is not a crime. You give so-called healing with different things that are illegal in us. Even if you do not take the money, it is forbidden again. The health of the citizen is not in danger.

He went further to say that the issue will be taken seriously and the group's Facebook page will be examined and if there is a crime, the necessary procedure will be implemented. 

Meanwhile the head of the Turkish Cypriot Union, Kenan Arifoglu, said that it would not be a matter of treating religious rhetoric and that necessary precautions should be taken as "such practices were wrong and unacceptable and that such misapplication may delay the treatment of the patient." 

According to him, for example, a person can have a serious headache, go to such people and try to get help that will delay and damages the patient's treatment. It is very inconvenient, we are against them, he said.