An evangelist with the Celestial Church of Christ, Abidemi Odukoya, and his wife, Adenike, have reportedly died in separate circumstances following an alleged domestic dispute at their home in the Akinode/Ibogun community, Ogun State.
The incident is said to have occurred in the early hours of Monday, August 25, after the couple's disagreement allegedly turned physical, leaving Adenike unconscious and injured while her husband fled the residence.
A former chairman of the community's Development Association, Adejimi Olawumi, said in a video shared by Arole TV on Wednesday that he was drawn to the scene by residents shouting for help.
"It was around 1am when I heard my neighbours shouting, 'thief, thief.' On my way out, I saw Daniel. I asked him what happened, and he said it was his mum and dad. Then I went to call my neighbours to come out," Olawumi said.
He said what they found inside the house was worse than they had feared.
"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," he said.
According to him, the couple's son, who was in the house at the time, could not say what had happened between his parents.
"The son said he did not see what happened between his mum and dad because he was in the other room. So, we started calling people together," Olawumi said.
He said attention soon turned to the missing husband, with community members mobilising to search for him.
"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," he said.
Olawumi said the search ended with grim news from another part of the state.
"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," he said.
He added that nothing like this had happened in the community before, even though the couple's quarrels were not new to their neighbours.
"We have never heard or seen something like this happen before. We only know that they fight sometimes and settle it among themselves," he said.
In a separate video circulating online, the late evangelist's younger sister said the couple had a history of disagreements, including one that took them to a police station earlier this year.
"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," she said.
She said she had urged the couple to exercise patience with one another, never imagining the disputes would end this way.
"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," she said.
She said the family learned of the deaths through a phone call to one of the siblings, after which arrangements were made for the burial of the couple.
Adenike was reportedly buried on the day of the incident, while Odukoya was buried on Wednesday, September 2.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths remained unclear as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted on Wednesday, the deputy spokesman for the Ogun State Police Command, Opeyemi Oluborode, confirmed the incident.
"The police is investigating the incident," he said.
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