Posted by By Patience Saghana - Vanguard on
A POPULAR Pentecostal pastor in Oyo State in whose church Dr Philip Ademola Ogunniyi, owner of Mercy Home Hospital, was murdered on New Year eve, and his assistant have been arrested for questioning over the death of the deceased.
LAGOS - A POPULAR Pentecostal pastor in Oyo State in whose church Dr Philip Ademola Ogunniyi, owner of Mercy Home Hospital, was murdered on New Year eve, and his assistant have been arrested for questioning over the death of the deceased. It was gathered that the pastor and his assistant were arrested on Monday, while five others were still at large over the murder of the doctor.
The pastor, in an interview with Vanguard in Oyo before he was arrested, said, "Dr Ogunniyi came to the church to drop his wife and children around 9 p.m. and went home with a promise to come back and pick them. He came back for them, perhaps as he got to the church, the assassins had trailed him and killed him right in the car in front of the church"
He explained that though the congregation, including himself, heard the sound outside the church, they thought it was fireworks, hence they did not make any effort to find out.
He said, "We were not around when he returned. It was when the grace was said and everybody started jubilating over the new year and they were dispersing that the wife went to where the husband's car was and raised the alarm, which drew our attention to where the husband was.
"He parked his car in a corner of the church, where a mechanic shop was blocking our view, hence we did not know he was around, and because bangers were being thrown all around, we thought the sound was a knockout".
As to why the ushers of the church and the two policemen posted to the church point were not outside the church at the time the tragic incident happened, the cleric, who is the founding pastor, explained: "There was no light in the area at that time, so we ordered all the ushers to come inside the church when it was some few minutes to 12 midnight because most of the church ushers are female. But l saw two men who said they were policemen posted to the church point, but they joined us in the service and l had confirmed that they were actually posted to the church point".
Vanguard further gathered that two policemen were posted from Ojongbodu Police Station at Iseyin, Oyo State, to be at alert in front of the church for security reasons, but rather than concern themselves with the directive given them, they went into the church to receive the "grace."
Though the DPO at the Ojongbodu Police Station, Mr. Hussein Muhammed, whose jurisdiction covers Dr Ogunnyi's area and the church environment, declined comment on the matter, Vanguard confirmed that the pastor and his assistant have been arrested.