“Osogbo Man Remanded for Stabbing Bishop to Death Over Suspected Affair”
A Magistrate Court in Osogbo has remanded 42-year-old Wale Ogunsanmi in custody for allegedly stabbing Shina Olaribigbe, a bishop and founder of Rapture Empowerment International Church, to death.
Ogunsanmi was arraigned on a single count of murder by the Osun State Police Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The charge sheet, marked MoS/19c/2025 and signed by B. Adaraloye, head of the legal/prosecution section, states that the crime occurred on January 1, 2025, around 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 Ogunsanmi’s plea as the case was beyond its jurisdiction. Presiding Magistrate A. O. Odeleye ordered the suspect to be remanded at the Ilesa Correctional Centre until further proceedings. The case was adjourned for later hearings.
Earlier reports indicated that 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 been living separately from Ogunsanmi for about a year due to marital issues.
According to Yemisi Opalola, the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, the bishop was at the woman’s residence when Ogunsanmi arrived and repeatedly stabbed him, suspecting that the pastor was having an affair with his wife.
Ogunsanmi and his wife had been living apart for a year, with the bishop reportedly involved in mediation before the separation. On the night of the incident, Ogunsanmi allegedly broke into the house and attacked the bishop in the bedroom.
Police officers from the Dugbe Division arrived promptly at the scene, arrested Ogunsanmi, and recovered the weapon used in the attack. The body of the deceased was taken to the UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital Mortuary in Osogbo for an autopsy.
