A 42-year-old man, Wale Ogunsanmi, has been remanded in a correctional centre by a Magistrate Court in Osogbo for allegedly stabbing a bishop to death on January 1, 2025.
The late Bishop, Shina Olaribigbe was the founder of Rapture Empowerment International Church.
The Osun State Police Command, through its Criminal Investigation Department, CID, arraigned Ogunsanmi on a single count of mu..rder.
According to the charge sheet, marked MoS/19c/2025 and signed by B. Adaraloye, the head of the legal/prosecution section of the state CID, the crime occurred on January 1, 2025, at approximately 8:55 p.m. in the Fan Milk area of Ajegunle, Osogbo.
The charge reads: “That you, Wale Ogunsanmi, on the 1st of January, 2025, at about 8:55 p.m., at Fan Milk Area of Ajegunle, Osogbo, in the Osogbo Magisterial District, did unlawfully stab one Shina Olaribigbe to death and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, Cap 33, Volume 1, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.”
The court did not take the defendant’s plea due to lack of jurisdiction.
Presiding Magistrate A. O. Odeleye ordered Ogunsanmi to be remanded in Ilesa Correctional Centre pending further proceedings and adjourned the case.
Recall Ogunsanmi allegedly attacked the bishop after finding him in the company of his estranged wife.
The suspect’s wife, an interpreter at the deceased’s church, had reportedly been separated from Ogunsanmi for a year due to marital disputes.
Yemisi Opalola, the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, said, “The bishop was in the woman’s residence when her husband arrived and stabbed him several times. It is believed the suspect acted out of suspicion that the pastor was having an affair with his wife.”
Opalola also confirmed that Ogunsanmi and his wife had been living apart for about a year.
The bishop had reportedly been involved in mediating before the separation.
On the night of the incident, Ogunsanmi allegedly broke into his wife’s house and attacked the bishop, who was in the bedroom.
Police from the Dugbe Division had arrived promptly at the scene, arrested the suspect, and recovered the weapon.
