Superintendent Evangelist Whepetoji Babaniyeh, a Lagos-based pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 28-year-old man.
SaharaReporters reports that the cleric leads the Celestial Church of Christ, Ileri Oluwa Parish, Lagos State University (LASU) 2.
Ogunbode Quadri Adedamola was declared missing on January 16, 2025.
He had obtained his degree from the Political Science Education Department of LASU in 2024 and was running his private business, Horlar Edu Consultancy, on the LASU campus before his disappearance.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, a family source noted that Quadri was last seen near the church.
“He was last seen around the church premises, and since then, we have yet to hear from him. The police have arrested the pastor over the incident and have stated that investigations are ongoing,” the source said.
The source also revealed that Quadri was on a phone call with his girlfriend at the time of the incident.
“His girlfriend was speaking to him on the phone when it happened. He told her he was near the church when someone from inside called him. That was the last time anyone heard from him,” the family member said.
But the pastor has yet to confess to the killing or disclose the victim’s whereabouts, according to the family source.
“The last we know is that the pastor has yet to confess or reveal where Quadri is,” the family source told SaharaReporters.
However, a YouTuber known as Authentic Auntie Adunni – Triple A – claimed in a post that when police visited the church based on the girlfriend’s account, the cleric denied seeing Quadri that day or knowing his whereabouts.
She stated that as the investigation intensified, police obtained the victim’s bank statement and discovered that N1.5 million had been transferred from Quadri’s account to Babaniyeh’s account on the day he went missing.
“When this prophet was asked, it was alleged that this prophet said that it was thanksgiving money that Quadri gave to him,” she said.
She added that further investigations uncovered additional transfers from Quadri’s account to the pastor’s child.
“Upon further investigation, it was discovered that these people unalived (killed) Quadri, cut some parts of his body and buried the remaining inside the church compound. The police went into action and in the process, more was discovered,” she said.
“The shepherd’s son was involved in this issue.”
However, the family source refuted the YouTuber’s claim that Quadri had been confirmed dead or that his remains were discovered within the church premises.
“We cannot confirm whether he is dead or alive. All we know is that he is missing. That is what we know, we have also not seen any corpse that is his,” the family source said.
When contacted, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, denied having any knowledge of the incident.
“We have no such report,” he said in a text message to SaharaReporters.
