LAGOS – The police in Ogun have revealed how a self-acclaimed pastor of a white garment church connived with a young man to kill a final-year sociology student of Lagos State University for money rituals.
According to the police, the 42-year-old pastor, Segun Philip, has been arrested along with 23-year-old Adeeko Owolabi over the killing of Favour Daley-Oladele who was described as Owolabi’s girlfriend.
Favour was reported missing by her parents at Mowe Police Station when she was not seen since she left home to an unknown destination on December 8, December 2019.
Following the report, the officer in charge of Mowe Division, SP Marvis Jaiyeola detailed crack detectives to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of the 22-year-old girl.
The police spokesman in Ogun, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, told our correspondent that police detectives went into full scale technical and forensic investigation of the case and their efforts paid off when the movement of the deceased was traced to a white garment church at Ikoyi-Ile, in Osun State, where Segun Phillip was the pastor.
On getting to the church, Phillip was promptly arrested but he was quick to inform the detectives that the girl was brought to him by his boyfriend Adeeko Owolabi, who was still within the vicinity of the church.
The boyfriend was then traced and apprehended immediately.
On interrogation, Owolabi allegedly confessed to the police that the deceased was his girlfriend and that he lured her to Ikoyi-Ile where he had perfected plans with Pastor Philip to use her for money-making ritual.
He stated further that while the girl was sleeping, the pastor gave him a pestle with which he used to smash her head, after which the pastor quickly used a knife to cut off her neck, ripped open her chest and removed her heart that he used in preparing a concoction for him and his mother to eat.
When asked what pushed him to such devilish act, Owolabi explained that he decided to go into money ritual because things were not going well with his parents economically, most especially his mother who used to be the breadwinner of the family; and when he sought for assistance from the pastor, he was asked to bring a human being for that purpose and the available person at that time was his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Kenneth Ebrimson, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department for proper investigation.
The CP, who described the murder as a superlative degree of wickedness, vowed to ensure that all the suspects face the full wrath of the law.
It was also learnt that Favour’s remains have been found in a shallow grave in Ogun State.
