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New Converts Stab RCCG Pastor To Death Inside Church

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Suspected hoodlums have attacked and killed a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in FESTAC Town, in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The PUNCH correspondent gathered that the victim, Pastor Babatunde Dada, was killed inside the RCCG Chapel of Resurrection on 13 Road, 6th Avenue, FESTAC Town.

The killing, which happened on Thursday, December 2, was said to have been perpetrated by two new converts who came to the church for the first time a Sunday before the incident.

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The two youths were said to have come out during an altar call and surrendered their lives to Jesus.

The church accommodated them on its premises after they claimed to be stranded.

They had barely spent a week in the church when they reportedly stabbed the cleric to death.

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A senior pastor in the church, Akin Odejare, declined comment on the incident when contacted by PUNCH Metro.

However, the wife of the pastor, Bose, told PUNCH correspondent on the phone that she called her husband on the day of the incident and he promised to come home to rest.

She said, “My husband was killed on December 2 at the church. He was the admin/accounts officer, as well as the parish pastor. I was not with him when he was killed, but I was told that they collected money from him. I heard that those who killed him were new converts.”

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A family member, who is also a security expert, Mr Abolarinwa Olatunbosun, told our correspondent on Wednesday that the pastor was killed after withdrawing money from a bank.

He said, “The pastor went to a bank to withdraw some money and went to rest on the first floor of the church. Two persons said to be new converts went to meet him upstairs, broke his head and killed him.

“The matter was reported to the police and one of the suspects, who ran to Ilorin, has been arrested.”

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Olatunbosun said the killing might be for ritual purposes, adding that the assailants were suspected Internet fraudsters, aka Yahoo boys.

The expert said criminals were beginning to attack churches and pastors because they believed there was money in church.

He advised religious centres to be security conscious and put in place strategies that could stop criminals from killing, kidnapping and robbing leaders and worshippers.

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A friend of the slain pastor, Fred Enemigin, who is the founder, Highflyers International, Lagos, said in a Facebook post that the pastor was stabbed multiple times.

He wrote, “Two boys had come to church last Sunday and they responded to the altar call by giving their lives to Christ. After church service, they waited to see the head pastor and told him that they were stranded without any place to stay.

READ ALSO: N5bn Raised To Kick-off Monthly Rental Policy In Lagos

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“On compassionate grounds, the pastor allowed them to stay somewhere within the church premises pending when they would be resettled. Pastor Tunde Dada, who had for almost a decade been the accountant of RCCG Chapel of Resurrection Parish, was assigned to provide needed welfare for the boys until their matter would be sorted.

“On the fateful Thursday, Tunde was seated in his office and the boys targeting that they were alone on the church premises with him, entered his office and attacked him with knives and other sharp weapons. He was stabbed multiple times and places until they had him killed right there on the spot.

“Our minds are still searching for what the rift between the boys and Tunde was considering the fact that the Tunde we knew was a very gentle soul. Could they have asked for more welfare than what was approved for them and Tunde declined? What on earth would warrant this brutal killing by those who were recipients of a server of the church’s benevolence? There are many more questions that we have not found answers to.”

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The state Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said he had yet to be briefed about the case.

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Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

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Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

READ ALSO:Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

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20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

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Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

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Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

READ ALSO:China’s Trade Surges Despite US Tariff Threats

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

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The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

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READ ALSO:US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

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According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

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South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

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At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

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READ ALSO:South African Court Finds Radical Politician Malema Guilty On Gun Charges

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

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South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP

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