A pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Mr. Bolanle Ibrahim, has been murdered by gunmen in his church in the Mile 12 area of Lagos State.
The deceased, who was an assistant pastor at the King of Kings parish of the Church, at Maidan village, was said to be praying for mothers and their children during their child dedication when the gunmen invaded the church.
The gunmen reportedly went into the church during the service, tried to drag Ibrahim out, but another senior pastor in the church approached them and demanded what they wanted from him.
A relative of the deceased, Mrs. Justina Alebiosu, said when the senior pastor was inquiring from the assailants who they were; they hit him with the butt of their gun and shoved him aside.
“I was told when the assailants wanted to drag him out of the pulpit where he was praying for women who brought their children for dedication, he begged them to kill him there and that was where he was eventually killed by the gunmen.” She added that, “the assailants also threatened to shoot any of the members of the church who dare come close to them.
“We still have an aged mother, and his wife just gave birth, his children are still young. I am appealing to the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu to release his remains for us to bury. We are all down morally, because of his sudden death.”
The distraught wife of the deceased, Mrs. Kudirat Ibrahim, said on the fateful day her husband was killed, he was fasting. She said for the period they courted she never suspected her husband to be a cultist, wondering where people heard that he was a cult member. “What they are saying about him are blatant lies, my late husband was a man of God and he served him to his death.
“I wasn’t at home on the fateful day of the incident, I went to take care of my sick mother at the hospital, I had no premonition about his death, after the deed was done, nobody called to inform me.
“I never knew my husband had been killed, I was still busy calling him to bring something for me from home, not knowing that he had already been killed, whenever I called him the person who is picking his call kept telling me my husband is preaching, it was later around 7pm that my elder brother came to break the news to me about the gruesome murder of my beloved husband.”
The grieving aged mother of the deceased, Mrs. Agnes Ogunowo, said the gunmen have taken away her son and her friend from her. Ogunowo said they bid each other goodbye when they were going to church on the fateful Sunday.
“I am a member of the Catholic Church, but he attends Redeemed Christian Church of God and he was the assistant pastor of the Church. I still don’t understand why they killed my son. He was an easy going person.
“My son has a new baby we are yet to take to church for dedication, now my son is no more. I want to appeal to the police to get involved in my son’s death, arrest and prosecute his killers.
I want God to expose those behind it; I cannot bear his death,” she said, in-between sobs.