A pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ, Abidemi Odukoya, and his wife, Adenike, have died following an alleged domestic dispute at their residence in the Akinode/Ibogun community of Ogun State.
The couple reportedly had a physical confrontation in the early hours of Monday, August 25, after which Adenike was found unconscious and seriously injured, while Odukoya was said to have left the house.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths remained unclear as of Wednesday, although the state police command confirmed that the matter was under investigation.
A former Chairman of the Community Development Association in the community, Adejimi Olawumi, said he was alerted after hearing residents shouting for help around 1am.
According to Olawumi, he went to the couple’s residence and found Adenike lying in a pool of blood.
Speaking in a video shared by Arole TV, he said the couple’s son told residents that he had been in another room and did not witness what happened between his parents.
Olawumi said, “It was around 1am when I heard my neighbours shouting, ‘thief, thief.’ On my way out, I saw Daniel. I asked him what happened, and he said it was his mum and dad.
“Immediately, we got inside the house and saw the wife in a pool of blood. At that time, there were no vehicles to take her to the hospital.
“The son said he did not see what happened between his mum and dad because he was in the other room. So, we started calling people together.”
Olawumi said community members later realised that Odukoya was nowhere to be found and began searching for him.
He said the community subsequently received information that the cleric had been knocked down by a vehicle in the Ifo area of Ogun State.
“When we saw that we did not see the husband, everyone in the CDA came out to look for him everywhere. We called our area chairman to tell him about the incident,” he said.
“Later, we heard that Mr Abidemi had been hit by a car in Ifo. The police took him to the hospital, and we confirmed that he was the one. The CDA then started working on how to bring his remains home.”
The former CDA chairman said the couple were known to have occasional disagreements but claimed the community had never witnessed an incident of such magnitude involving them.
“We have never heard or seen something like this happen before. We only know that they fight sometimes and settle it among themselves,” he added.
Sister recalls previous disputes
Meanwhile, the younger sister of the late cleric alleged in a video circulating online that the couple had experienced repeated marital disagreements before their deaths.
She claimed the couple visited her in April following an earlier altercation and that the matter was eventually resolved at a police station.
“I have been hearing that they have been fighting for a while now. Around April, they came to my house. He explained everything about how he and his wife fought, and that it was at the police station they settled it,” she said.
She said she had advised the couple to exercise patience and avoid physical confrontations.
“I only told them to be patient with each other because it is not right for a husband and wife to fight against each other. They had been fighting for a very long time, and people helped them settle it. And now we just heard that the husband and wife are dead,” she added.
According to her, the family learnt of the incident after one of the siblings received a telephone call, following which arrangements were made concerning the deceased.
The wife was reportedly buried on the day of the incident, while Odukoya was buried on Wednesday, September 2.
Footage obtained by PUNCH Metro on Wednesday also showed some clerics conducting burial rites over the remains of the evangelist at an undisclosed location.
However, details surrounding what led to the alleged altercation and the circumstances of the couple’s deaths had not been established.
When contacted, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State Police Command, Opeyemi Oluborode, confirmed the incident.
“The police is investigating the incident,” he said.
Leave a Reply