Two prophets of an affiliate of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church were arrested for the brutal murder of a woman and buried her headless body on a church altar in Ewekoro, Ogun state.
The suspects have however given details on how the heinous crime was committed.
Crimepuzzle reports that the victim, identified as Raliat, according to one of the prophets was a member of his church incident.
Tobiloba Ipinse, 37, founder of Holy Garden Christian Evangelical Church, a branch of Cherubim and Seraphim at Elebute area of Ewekoro, and the victim’s lover accused Shopeju Daniel, 42, of Oba Onimajemu, also a Cherubim and Seraphim, at Egbado Junction, Itori, of masterminding the evil act.
Victim
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Tobiloba, however, affirmed that the killing actually took place in his presence.
In his word:
“I was in my room on that fateful Wednesday when someone came to call me at about 10:00 pm, saying some people were waiting to see me in the church. On getting there, I saw Shopeju with seven other people, including a woman, all in black and red apparel. To my surprise, I saw Raliat Sanni in their midst. Her hands were tied, and she had a mask on her head. Shopeju was holding a knife I knew was not an ordinary one.
“The next that happened was that, they laid her on the ground like a ram and Shopeju slaughtered her. Each of the seven other people collected Raliat’s blood in the calabash they all held. Shopeju then severed her head and palms. I demanded from him what they would do with the remaining body. At that instance, he told me to go back to my room. That was how I left them and went back inside.
“The following morning, I went into the church and noticed a portion with fresh sand, removed the surface sand and saw the corpse. I then covered it back. Three days after, on Sunday, police men came to arrest me”, Tobiloba stated
Shopeju, on his own part, said:
“I got to know Tobiloba in December, 2017, when brought to me by one TK, for prayer. Then, I didn’t know him as a prophet until February when he invited me to his church anniversary. Since then, I did not set my eyes on him until I was arrested for allegedly leading some people to his church to commit the said abomination”.
One of the victim’s relative who identified himself as her brother and goes by the name Saheed Adebola spoke out and in his statement, he mentioned that the deceased was the breadwinner of her family
“The late Raliat is survived by aged parents, five biological and three adopted children. As the breadwinner of the family, a beautician by profession, who also sold drinks, she adopted her late sister’s three children. Our mother is 70-years of age.
“When we noticed she was missing, I went to Ewekoro Police Divisional Headquarters to report. After that, our mother went with the deceased’s son to Tobiloba, to enquire on her whereabouts. All he could say was that Raliat was not feeling fine, adding that she was owing him #200,000”, the bereaved Saheed said.
Reacting to the incident, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Iliyasu, said,
“This is the height of wickedness that can be meted out to a fellow human being. It will interest you to know that the victim was a ‘’Secret Lover’’ to the pastor who eventually hacked her to death.
” It has been the resolve of this Command to ensure that perpetrators of this type of heinous crimes will never go unpunished and we have been consistent in doing that.
“Forensic investigation into the case has commenced and the case will eventually be charged to court.
“I hereby appeal to the good people of Ogun State to always be watchful of those they associate with and always disclose their movements to, at least, one person close to them, no matter how confidential the movement is, in order to prevent occurrences of this type of dastardly act.
“On the 26th of March 2018, the Command received a report of missing person at our Divisional Headquarters in Ewekoro. The case was reported by one Adebola Saheed ‘m’ that his younger sister, One Raliat Sanni ‘f’ 35yrs left home since 21st March and yet to return.
“On the strength of the report, our operatives at Ewekoro Division, led by SP Oluwarotimi Jeje, the Divisional Police Officer, swung into action and embarked on technical intelligence investigation. upon discreet analysis of facts surrounding the disappearance of the victim, the last person who was seen with the missing person was uncovered, in person of one Pastor Elijah Ipense Oluwatobiloba in charge of Cherubim & Seraphim white garment church Elebute area of Ewekoro.
The so called ‘Pastor’ was promptly arrested and thoroughly interrogated. In the course of interrogation, the pastor confessed killing the victim and buried her inside his church after removing her head and two hands for reasons only ‘’known to him and God’’. He also mentioned one Pastor Daniel Sopeju ‘m’ of Iyana Egbado as his accomplice”, CP Iliyasu stated.
