Police arrest pastor who ‘buried lover inside his church’

The Ogun police command on Tuesday arrested a pastor who allegedly killed his female lover and buried her body inside his church.

Parading the suspect at the scene of the crime, Ahmed Iliyasu, commissioner of police, said the command had received a report of a missing person at the divisional headquarters in Ewekoro.

The commissioner said the case was reported by one Adebola Saheed, who stated that his younger sister, Raliat Sanni, 35, had left home since March 21 and had yet to return.

Iliyasu said on the strength of the report, police operatives at Ewekoro division led by Oluwarotimi Jeje, the divisional police officer, swung into action and embarked on investigation.

He said the pastor, upon discreet analysis of facts, was the last person who was seen with the missing person.

“The so-called pastor was promptly arrested and thoroughly interrogated,” he said.

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

The police commissioner said the suspect named another accomplice who was also paraded.

“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,” he said.

He said a forensic investigation into the case had commenced and the matter would eventually be charged to court.

“This is another breakthrough resulting from painstaking technical intelligence investigation aimed at wiping out crime in our society as well as bringing to justice those who are adamant in making crime their business,” he said.

“I appeal to the people to be always 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 in order to prevent the occurrence of this type of dastardly act.”

Speaking to journalists, the suspect said he was not the one that killed the victim, alleging that it was his accomplice who carried out the act and later cut off her head and two hands.

The suspect, a teacher at Methodist High School, Private, Arigbajo, said he was forced by the accomplice to join his cult group.

He revealed that the victim was killed in the process of his initiation as a member of the cult group.

The alleged accomplice, however, denied having anything to do with the pastor, saying the last time he saw him was last year.