Abidemi Odukoya, a Celestial Church of Christ evangelist, and his wife, Adenike, reportedly died in separate incidents following a claimed domestic quarrel at their home in the Akinode/Ibogun village of Ogun State.
It was gathered that the incident occurred early on Monday, August 25, when the pair allegedly engaged in a domestic disagreement that developed into a violent battle.
The argument reportedly left Adenike unconscious and injured, while her husband fled the house.
Adejimi Olawumi, a former chairman of the Community Development Association, stated in a video shared by Arole TV on Wednesday that he was alerted by calls for help from residents and later discovered the woman lying in a pool of blood.
Olawumi said, “It was around 1am when I heard my neighbors shouting, ‘Thief, thief.’ On my way out, I saw Daniel. I asked him what happened, and he said it was his mom and dad. Then I went to call my neighbors to come out.
“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 mom and dad because he was in the other room. So, we started calling people together.”
Olawumi stated that members of the CDA later discovered Odukoya was missing and began looking for him.
According to him, they later discovered that the cleric had been hit by a vehicle in the Ifo area of the state.
He said, “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.
“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.
“We have never heard or seen something like this happen before. We only know that they fight sometimes and settle it among themselves.”
Meanwhile, the late evangelist’s younger sister stated in an internet video that the couple had a number of arguments prior to their deaths.
She stated that the pair had visited her in April following a previous dispute and that the situation was eventually settled at a police station.
She said, “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.
“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.”
The woman stated that the family was told of the occurrence after one of the siblings received a phone call and that arrangements were then made for the deceased’s body.
The wife was allegedly buried on the day of the tragedy, while Odukoya was buried on Wednesday, September 2.
In separate footage on Wednesday, some clerics were seen performing burial rites over the remains of the evangelist at an undisclosed location.
The facts surrounding the deaths, however, remained unknown as of the time of reporting this story.
When reached on Wednesday, Opeyemi Oluborode, deputy spokesman for the state police command, confirmed the occurrence.
“The police are investigating the incident,” he added.
