My daughter was killed for ritual, pastor alleges

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• It’s not true, say police

Controversy has continued to trail the death of a housewife, Mrs Seun Akinade, in Ibadan, Oyo State. The father of the deceased, Pastor Stephen Ogunowo, alleged his daughter’s death was not natural.
Ogunowo, who superintends over a Cherubim and Seraphim Church at Oke Orundun village in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State, claimed his daughter was killed for money ritual.
He, therefore, called on the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, and the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ikemefuna Okoye, to arrest and to prosecute his late daughter’s husband, Afolabi Akinade. Ogunowo, who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos, said Akinade married his daughter a year ago, adding that the couple met at the Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State.
The couple lived in Soka area of Ibadan. Ogunowo said that Akinade had never visited the village but was surprised when he surfaced at Oke Orundun recently to break the news of his daughter’s death. He said: “I suspected my daughter’s husband has used my daughter for money ritual following my investigation.
“I was at the church on Monday when the information reached me through one of the leaders in our community who asked me to see him “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have hearkened to such call, because I don’t leave service for anything, but when the call seemed to be very important, I had to go to the man’s house.
“On getting there, I met my son-in-law, Afolabi, and some people, who broke the news of my daughter’s death to me and I fainted immediately. “After I was revived, I queried my daughter’s husband to know what happened to her.
He told me she fell ill and died three days later. “I almost believed the news until a friend of mine called me aside and asked me to request for the body of my daughter.
“When they eventually came with the body, the man who asked if my daughter’s corpse did not have marks did not come with them. That was when I became suspicious.
What surprised me most was that she was naked and her thigh to her private part had been cut. Her breasts were also cut off and tied with twine.”
Ogunowo explained that those who came with Afolabi ran away, immediately they saw the situation of things. He said the matter was later reported at Omu police post and was later transferred to Odogbolu police station.
But a community leader, High Chief Thephilous Onasanya, told our corre-spondent that the villagers should be careful with the way they handle the matter.
He said: “A mortuary attendant, who pleaded anonymity, told me that the process of embalmment requires dissecting some parts of the body through which chemical will penetrate into the body.
“Among the places which could be dissected are the navel, neck and other places deemed fit by professionals.
He, however, said there is no need to cut and sew breasts in the process of embalmment, adding that such part of the body is not tampered for embalmment except for autopsy and other special findings on the body.”
Akinade neither picked his calls nor responded to messages sent to his mobile phone to get his own side of the story.
But when contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, debunked Ogunowo’s claims.
He said: “The deceased, Seun, was married to Afolabi Akinade, without her father’s consent.
“When the lady died, the father insisted on seeing his daughter’s corpse, and upon seeing it, he raised the allegation of mutilation, but doctors intervened and told him it was for embalmment.
The allegation was not true.”
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