28 year old man killed & buried inside church in Lagos by his Celestial Church Pastor

The family, friends, and acquaintances of 28-year-old Adedamola Ogunbode are still reeling from the tragic loss of the young man. What makes this heartbreaking incident even more chilling is the fact that Adedamola was murdered in the very church he attended, and the primary suspect is his pastor, Evang. Whepetoji Babaniyeh, of the Celestial Church of Christ, LASU II Parish. His body was exhumed from the church premises as law enforcement authorities continue to probe this horrific crime.

The tragic tale began on January 16, when Adedamola left his business center, Horlar Edu Consultancy, located at the LASU campus. When he failed to return home and could not be found within 24 hours, he was reported missing.

For days, there were no leads on his whereabouts, until investigators stepped in to piece together the mystery. A breakthrough came when his girlfriend informed the authorities that Adedamola had called her on the day he went missing. According to her account, he had told her he was heading to church. The girlfriend further explained that Adedamola had called her from the front of the Celestial Church of Christ, Ileri Oluwa Parish, LASU II, to confirm his arrival at the church and promised to call again later — a call that never came.

This new information led investigators to begin a deeper inquiry into the church’s activities and Adedamola’s sudden disappearance, eventually uncovering the grim truth. In the course of the investigation agents visited the shepherd of the Church Babaniyeh who denied seeing Adedamola on January 26,2025 , the day he disappeared.

However the agents embarked on digital based investigation and pinpointed Adedamola last whereabouts at his church. They also struck gold when they examined his bank account . Through the bank statement they noticed suspicious withdrawals from the account after his disappearance.

The security agents discovered that #1.5M was transferred from the account on the day he went missing. And when they probed the receiving account it turned out to be that of the Shepherd, his daughter and two other individuals associated with the shepherd.

At first The shepherd, Sup. Evang. Whepetoji Babaniyeh denied receiving the money but when agents showed him the statement of account he claimed the missing man transferred it to him as Thanksgiving offering. There and then he was arrested and detained for further investigation.

After further investigation, the agents were told to carry out extensive scrutiny of the church environment. And they made a gory discovery; the mutilated body of Adedamola buried in a shallow grave in the church premises. Sources report the discovery of axes and some of the weapons suspected to have been used to murder Adedamola in the Church premises.

Evang. Whepetoji Babaniyeh and other suspects in the case are still facing intensive interrogations to determine levels of culpability.