Posted by By Kunle Adeyemi on
An evangelical church with the headquarters in Ogudu, Lagos State, has been thrown into mourning following an alleged drowning of one of its pastors.
An evangelical church with the headquarters in Ogudu, Lagos State, has been thrown into mourning following an alleged drowning of one of its pastors.
The pastor, identified as Emmanuel Olayiwola, reportedly went to a river to baptise a new convert at about 8am on Saturday when the incident happened.
He was said to be in company with a co-pastor, Abraham Sani to baptise one Anita Osakwe, a female adherent.
The incident happened at a place known as 'Sand Field Ori Oke' in Ogudu area of the state.
During the baptism, Pastor Olayiwola was said to have moved to a portion of the river where the tide was high.
In the process, he reportedly fell into the water and before he could stand up and gain his balance again, the current had allegedly swept him away.
The co-pastor and the new convert who could do nothing to save the life of Olayiwola, went back home and reported the incident to some church elders.
A delegate from the church later reported the incident to the police at Ogudu.
Our correspondent learnt that while the church hired some local divers to search for the pastor, the police also involved its marine unit in the search.
After hours of search, the corpse of the pastor was later found and brought out of the water.
Investigation by our correspondent on Sunday showed that the police may have suspected some foul play in the events leading to the drowning of Olayiwola.
At the time of this report, the police were still interrogating the co-pastor and the female convert who were at the scene of the incident.
A police source told our correspondent that since the pastor was dead, it was difficult to ascertain what actually killed him.
Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Comand, Mr. Frank Mba, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on Sunday. He added that the two suspects were still being held by the police.