Pastor Kills/Buries Lover Inside His Church

One pastor at Holy Gathering Evangelical Church of God, Papalanto, Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state, Oluwatobiloba Ipense, has been arraigned by the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly killing his lover, Raliat Sanni, for ritual purposes.

According to the police, the suspect beheaded his victim, pieced her body and buried her in his church premises.

The corpse of the deceased was buried in one of the rooms close to the church altar.

Naija News learnt that Sanni was a divorcee, hairdresser and mother of five children.

The state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu said the suspect and his accomplice Daniel Sopeju, who claimed to be a prophet in another white garment church, were arrested on March 26, 2018.

The police boss said the command received a report of a missing person at its divisional headquarters in Ewekoro on Monday, March 26, and swung into action.

He said, “The case was reported by one Adebola Saheed that his younger sister, Raliat Sanni, left home since March 21 and had yet to return.

“On the strength of the report, our operatives at the Ewekoro division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Oluwarotimi Jeje, swung into action and embarked on technical intelligence investigation.”

Iliyasu said the suspect was apprehended after investigations and indications pointing to the fact that he was the last person seen with the victim.

According to Iliyasu, the suspect was a pastor in charge of Cherubim & Seraphim, a white garment church, at the Elebute area of Ewekoro.

He added that in the course of interrogation, the pastor confessed to killing the victim and burying her in his church after removing her head and two hands for reasons “only known to him and God.”

Iliyasu described the act as “the height of wickedness” that could be meted out to a fellow human being.

He added that the victim was a “secret lover” of the pastor.

Ipense however denied the allegation that he killed the victim, saying his accomplice, Sopeju, was responsible for her death.

He claimed that Sopeju led seven members of a cult to his house with the aim of luring him to become a member.

Ipense, who claimed to be teaching Accounting and Commerce at a private secondary school at Arigbajo, said the cult had earlier asked him to submit the names of his church members from which he alleged that they eventually picked Raliat’s name.

He said, “It is not true that I killed the woman. It was one Mr. Daniel Sopeju and a woman that wanted to make me join their cult and they said that they were going to collect a ransom.

“So they collected the names of my members and picked the name of Raliat Sanni. Having mentioned her name, they asked me where she was living and I told them that she was living at Wasinmi. They later got her and brought her to my church.

“They used red cloth to cover her face and Mr Sopeju brought out a knife and beheaded the woman. After beheading her, he collected her blood and put it in seven calabashes.

“He later put her head and severed hands in a white calabash.”

He further explained that the group told him that the severed head and hands would be shared by members of the ocultic group.