The disappearance of a 28-year-old graduate of Political Science Education from the Lagos State University, Quadri Ogunbode, has plunged his parents into agony for nearly 50 days.
It was gathered that Quadri, popularly known as Howla, was last seen on January 16, 2025, on the premises of the Celestial Church of Christ, Ileri Oluwa Parish, LASU 2, in the Ojoo area of Lagos.
According to reports, Quadri was running a private business on the campus after completing his degree in 2024, while awaiting his graduation ceremony in April this year.
Quadri’s father, Idowu Ogunbode, recounted the painful night his son vanished.
“His girlfriend was feeling unwell that night, so my son went out to get food for her. But he never returned,” he said.
According to him, Quadri’s neighbours noticed his absence and alerted the family.
The man said he went to Ojo Police Station in Lagos on Saturday, January 18 with his wife, Quadri’s mother, to report his disappearance.
Upon arrival, Idowu said they found Quadri’s girlfriend writing a statement.
He said the lady stated that after buying food for her that night, Quadri went home but later called to inform her that some people had stopped him in front of the celestial church.
Idowu added that Quadri also called his mother around 9:20pm that night, requesting N10,000, but the woman said it was too late to send the money.
According to him, that was the last time the family heard from the missing graduate.
The agonised father said they had searched everywhere for his son but found no trace of him.
He said he even approached the Celestial Church to ask if they had seen or heard anything about his son’s disappearance, but they claimed to know nothing.
The man said the family paid N100,000 to some individuals at the Ojo Police Station to track Quadri’s phone number, but the effort yielded no results.
However, the breakthrough came when they visited Quadri’s bank, where they discovered that large sums of money were transferred from his account to multiple recipients almost 24 hours after his disappearance.
He said, “We found that Quadri’s money was transferred out of his account around 2am on January 17. The funds were sent to several people, including the prophet, by one boy named Sheriff.
“The first transfer was N10,000 airtime recharge sent to Sheriff’s phone number, followed by several other transactions. So, we took Sheriff’s number and gave it to someone in Abeokuta to track. The tracking revealed that he frequently contacted a particular lady.
“We then asked my son to call the lady and start a conversation, pretending to be interested in her. Fortunately, they exchanged pictures on WhatsApp, and I told my son to invite her on a date which she agreed. When she arrived at the eatery, the police arrested her,” the man narrated.
He said when questioned, the lady admitted knowing Sheriff from the Celestial Church and led the police to the boy’s house, where he was arrested.
Idowu said the police
questioned Sheriff about the money transferred to his account from Quadri’s, but he denied any knowledge of it.
However, while writing her statement, the lady through whom Sheriff was arrested mentioned a name that appeared as one of the recipients of the money withdrawn from Quadri’s account.
Police detain eight over death of deaf site engineer in Benin
Students plan protest over missing LASU graduate
The missing LASU graduate’s father added that the lady revealed that the name belonged to her father, who is the cleric in charge of the Celestial Church.
Acting on this information, the police summoned the prophet under the pretext of bailing his daughter. But upon his arrival, they arrested him.
Idowu said, “During interrogation, the prophet initially denied knowing Sheriff but later admitted that he was a member of his church.
“When questioned about the Quadri’s money transferred to his account by Sheriff, the cleric claimed it was meant for the construction of the church fence.
“However, Sheriff later confessed at Panti Police Division after officers found clips on his phone showing him holding a gun.
“He revealed that he and his friends were cultists and that they regularly held their meetings at the Celestial Church.”
While describing Sheriff’s confession as devastating, Idowu said, “I broke down in tears. I wept as I walked out of the station that day and returned to Abeokuta. Since then, the trauma has been overwhelming for me and my wife.”
However, the family’s agony deepened when some residents called Idowu a few days ago, linking his son’s disappearance to a ritual killing.
“The people said a buried corpse had been exhumed near the church premises and that they suspected it was my son. The trauma is unbearable,” the distraught father said with an emotion-laden voice.
He revealed that he had sold his only car to raise money to pursue the case, yet he still had no answers—whether his son was dead or alive.
“Now, I have nothing left. I have resorted to working as a bricklayer just to feed my family. Nigerians, please come to my aid, have mercy on me. I don’t know what the police are doing,” he pleaded.
His wife, Rofiat Ogunbode, also appealed to Nigerians for help.
She said, “My son was supposed to graduate this April, but he has been missing since January. His disappearance has brought us unbearable pain. Nigerians, we are suffering—please help us find our son.”
“Since the first month of this year, we have neither seen nor heard from him, dead or alive. Please, have mercy on us! Your son will never go missing, ooo!” she cried.
In response to the outcry over Quadri’s disappearance, the Lagos State Chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Council, on Thursday threatened to embark on a protest if the state government and security agencies fail to conduct “a full-scale audit of religious centres operating within student environments” across the state.
Meanwhile, the CCC leadership has condemned the viral claim of ritual killing linked to Quadri’s disappearance.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the CCC Head of Media and Secretary, Members Pastors-In-Council, Mr. Kayode Ajala, the church described the allegations as “misinformation being circulated on the internet by armchair journalists and bloggers.”
The church stated that, contrary to viral claims, no corpse was discovered buried near the church premises, nor was anybody exhumed from the church compound.
According to the church, while the police did arrest the accused prophet, he never confessed to murder, nor was the sum of N1.5m transferred to his account by the missing person.
The church clarified that the N70,000 transfer, which allegedly linked the cleric to the case, was meant for the repair of a collapsed church fence.
“Police investigation is still ongoing, while the shepherd has been granted bail and is in the process of meeting his bail conditions. As the investigation progresses, more details are expected to emerge,” the church stated.