A pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ, Iri Orun Parish, Bidemi Odukoya, allegedly killed his wife at their residence in Ogooluwa community, Akiode Ibogun, in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, before later dying after jumping in front of a moving truck.
According to Punch, Odukoya, who was the father of three boys, reportedly threw himself in front of a truck along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway shortly after the incident.
The incident reportedly happened around 2am on Monday, August 31, following a fight between the couple.
A neighbour, Oluwatoyin Oseni, said the couple had a history of domestic fights, some of which left the wife injured.
“Sincerely, Mummy Daniel and her husband, who we fondly called Iri Orun, have always engaged in domestic fights. Recently, I had to help take care of the wife after their usual fight,” Oseni said.
“There was even police involvement, after which we thought that the misunderstanding had been settled.
“It was after the tragedy of Monday, August 31, that we got to understand that both husband and wife had reportedly not been on speaking terms since June as a fallout of their regular squabble.”
Oseni said the couple’s 14-year-old first son, Daniel, alerted her around 2am after his father allegedly attacked his mother.
She said she and another neighbour went to the couple’s home and found the woman dead on the ground.
“We later got to hear that the Shepherd used a machete and wooden stool to smash the head of his wife. We also saw Daddy Daniel with a cutlass in his hand,” she said.
“As I was asking him why he would go to the extent of killing his wife, he calmly said that he too was as good as gone. But because he was holding the cutlass, we could not move closer.
“He later went inside the house, but we never knew that he had escaped that midnight from the community to go and kill himself at Ifo along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.”
The youth leader of the community, Seun Adelana, said the couple’s disagreement was reportedly linked to allegations of infidelity.
“The husband was said to have been alleging that the wife was dating another man, and some people also said that the shepherd was dating another woman,” Adelana said.
“So, this is what we gathered led to the altercation, which made the husband kill the woman.”
The Baale of the community, Taiwo Akiode, said some residents in Ifo later saw Odukoya on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
“Some people at Ifo told us that when the deceased got to the expressway, he was crossing the expressway back and forth repeatedly,” Akiode said.
“He later sat on the divider, after which he saw an oncoming truck and jumped before it and died.”
ALSO READ: 29-year-old tricycle operator killed in Bauchi
Opeyemi Oluborode, the deputy police spokesperson in Ogun State, confirmed that the state Commissioner of Police had ordered an investigation into the incident.
Oluborode said the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and to establish what happened.