The General Overseer of Rapture Empowerment International in Osogbo, Osun State, Bishop Shina Olaribigbe, has been stabbed to death while attempting to settle a domestic violence between a couple.
Details of the couple involved remain unclear, but sources revealed that the wife was an interpreter at Olaribigbe’s church located around the BCGA area in Osogbo.
Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola who confirmed the incident on Thursday said the couple are not living together but not legally separated.
Opalola said, “The couple was not living together, though they were not legally separated. The pastor had been intervening in their quarrels, and on this occasion, he was at the wife’s house when the estranged husband arrived.
“We were told that the husband stabbed the pastor multiple times, killing him. There is suspicion that the husband believed the pastor was having an affair with his wife”
Sources familiar with the incident said the couple had a history of frequent altercations that led to them living apart.
It was gathered that Olaribigbe, who was known for intervening in their disputes, had gone to visit the wife, who had been ill for some time.
The husband reportedly arrived at the residence early Thursday morning and found the clergyman in the room. Enraged by the situation, the husband allegedly attacked Olaribigbe.
“A heated argument ensued, and in a fit of anger, the man took a knife and stabbed the pastor in the chest. Olaribigbe died on the spot,” a source close to the church, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said.
Following the incident, both the husband and wife were arrested and taken into custody at the Dugbe Police Division in Osogbo.
The remains of Bishop Olaribigbe have been deposited at the morgue of the University of Osun Teaching Hospital in Osogbo.
