Followers of Pastor Ezekiel Odero have sparked widespread reactions online after believers of his New Life Church in Kibo, Kisumu County were filmed frantically collecting soil from the preacher’s footsteps, claiming it was anointed, holy, and capable of bringing blessings, wealth, and healing.

In the video, the congregants are seen scooping sand from the pastor’s footsteps, some placing it in polythene bags while others wrapped it with lesos.

The incident has raised alarm among netizens, who questioned where devotion ends and cult-like behaviour begins.

My tribesmen make the best prophets. From Owuor to The Ezekiel. Here you can see people scrambling to collect the soil where the son of the lake walks on. pic.twitter.com/AYopa86Keq

— JaPrado. (@Dr_AustinOmondi) March 19, 2026

Many drew comparisons to Pastor Paul Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed cleric arrested in 2023 after 429 bodies, including those of children, were exhumed from mass graves in the remote Shakahola forest. Mackenzie is accused of encouraging his followers to starve to death.

One social media user, Douglas Atuti, wrote: “This is the reason religion should be strictly monitored. Vulnerable members must be protected from manipulation.”

Earlier this year, a video of Pastor Odero resurfaced showing the Kilifi-based preacher telling his congregation that God had revealed he would die in the “second month.”

Pastor Odero, known for drawing massive crowds to his events, was arrested in 2023, and his church was shut down following reports of multiple deaths.

Authorities confirmed that morgue attendants had collected bodies from the New Life International Church premises. A total of 95 bodies, many of them women and children, were recovered, suspected to have died of starvation, and buried in shallow graves on an 800-acre forest near his church.

Coastal Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha confirmed the grim discovery, highlighting the scale of the tragedy linked to the church.