Tragedy struck on Sunday when gunmen suspected to be hired assassins shot and killed the Shepherd-in-charge of a Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) in Idiroko Border town of Ipokia local government area of Ogun State.

The deceased, identified as Yomi Adetula was shot dead right inside his church during the Sunday service around 11a.m. while preaching.

An eyewitness at the scene told LEADERSHIP that Adetula’s assailants, wielding AK-47 rifles and numbering about six, all clad in Celestial Church’s garments, stormed the Hebrew Celestial Church located at the Odo Eran area of the Old Garrage Road in Idiroko where they rained bullets on the deceased pastor, waiting to certify him dead and dismembering his body inside the church before leaving the scene.

LEADERSHIP further gathered that the deceased was the Idiroko Unit Commander of the Ogun State Community, Social Orientation and Safety Corps, popularly known as So-SAFE Corps; one of the community security outfits established and funded by the Ogun State government.

While the reasons behind the murder could not be immediately ascertained, our correspondent however, gathered that late Adetula had for the past few months been having running battles with certain smuggling cartel in Idiroko Border town, which necessitated his transfer to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in December 2024.

Sources within his church in Idiroko also confided in this newspaper that the development led to the forceful closure of his church in December by some suspected smugglers.

The State Commander of So-SAFE Corps, Soji Ganzalo, who confirmed the incident said that he received the news of Adetula’s assassination with a rude shock.

Ganzalo however, assured that the Corp would not relent until the matter is properly investigated, while also promising to assist appropriate security agencies with necessary information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects.