Pastor’s wife commits suicide in Ondo

A 52-year-old woman, identified as Opeyemi Babatola, has reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself in her residence, located along Aule road, Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The deceased was found dangling in one of the rooms in her residence by her husband, Pastor Adeolu Babalola, about three days after telling him she was going for a vigil.

The woman’s decomposed body was discovered by the deceased husband who raised the alarm.

According to a source, the deceased had told her husband that she would be going to a mountain to pray on Friday night and promised to return on Sunday or Monday morning.

He, however, said the woman went into one of the rooms in their uncompleted building to hang herself while the husband thought she had actually gone to the mountain.

The source said: “She told her child and her husband that she wanted to go to a mountain to pray. Her husband thought she was on the prayer mountain because that was not her first time of doing so.

“On Monday morning, the husband went to the back of one of the rooms in the other apartment of the house and discovered that there were many houseflies by the window side. So he opened the room and found his wife’s body dangling.”

He disclosed that men of the state police were invited to the scene of the incident.

All efforts to speak with the husband were not successful as he declined to comment.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Ondo State Police Command, Mr Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident and said investigation had begun into the matter.

He also explained that the husband had been invited to the command for interrogation.

“The husband is with us and helping us in our investigation. The husband told us that he perceived strange odour and houseflies in one of the rooms in the house. When he checked inside, he saw his wife’s body dangling.”

In another development, five suspected armed robbers, on Sunday evening, invaded a pentecostal church (name withheld) along Itanla area of Ondo town in Ondo West Local Government Area of the state, carting away money and other valuables.

The robbers, who stormed the church in a Toyota Prado Sport Utility Vehicle, shot sporadically into the air after overpowering security men in the church.

According to a source, the armed men locked the security men in a room within the church premises before embarking on their operation.

The source said the men ransacked every room in the church, including the computer section of a nursery and primary school owned by the church.

One of the security men, while narrating his ordeal to Metro, said the armed men caught them unawares.

“When they (armed men) entered the church premises, they started shooting sporadically and breaking bottles to scare us, and before we could know what was happening, they had dispossessed us of our guns and handsets.

“They locked us in one of the rooms inside the church after beating us, before going to the computer room of the nursery and primary school, and making away with computers and other equipment.

Confirming the development, the PPRO, Mr Joseph, said detectives from the command were on the trail of the hoodlums, with a pledge to bring them to book.

He stated that the security men injured during the attack had been taken to the hospital and were helping police in their investigation.