Redeemed preacher
Mrs. Eunice Elisha

A female pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and mother of seven, 
Mrs. Eunice Elisha, was on Saturday morning killed by unknown assailants while 
preaching around the Gbazango-West area of Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal
 Capital Territory.
Elisha, whose birthday was just a couple of weeks away, was stabbed in the stomach
 and she also had a cut in her neck.
The 42-year-old woman was a deaconess at the Divine Touch Parish of the RCCG, 
Old NEPA Road, Phase 4, Kubwa.

She was found dead by residents who alerted policemen who came to evacuate her
 remains to the police station where her husband went to identify the body.The RCCG
 preacher was found dead in a pool of her own blood with a copy of the Bible,
 a megaphone and a mobile phone.
Speaking to journalists at their residence, Eunice’s husband, Mr. Olawale Elisha, 
who is also a pastor at the RCCG, said his wife had gone out to preach in the
 neighbourhood around 5 am only for him to hear the report of her murder.
Elisha, who looked pensive and dejected, said, “My wife always went out early in
 the morning for ‘Morning Cry’ (evangelism). There was a particular day she went
 out and she told me that there was a mosque at the back where they commented 
about what she said. So I just cautioned her.
“This morning (Saturday), she went out around 5 am and I was still in bed because
 we had a vigil which she participated in for a short while because of the
 ‘Morning Cry’ she planned to undertake. Two of my boys are footballers, thus, 
they went to the football pitch to play. And when they came back, they told me
 that they heard some footballers saying that some hoodlums had butchered a 
woman who was preaching early this morning.”
Following the report of his children, he decided to check if his wife was safe.
“When I heard this, wearing only a pair of shorts, we walked towards the area my
 son had said the incident occurred; we didn’t see anybody but we saw blood on
 the ground. I asked a policeman around and he said it was true but that they 
had taken the body to Phase 4 Police Station.
“I went to the police station with my children and when we got there, I saw the
 lifeless body of my wife at the back of a police van. She was later taken to a 
mortuary. The incident happened between 5 am and 5.30 am because she usually
 went out at 5 am and returned by 6 am,” the husband of the deceased said.
The couple got married in July 2000.
“My wife was so committed to anything that is of God. She was a reckless giver to
 God’s work. She rarely missed any programme in the church. We have seven
 children,” he stated.
According to him, his wife had no quarrel with anyone that could have warranted 
her murder.
“I see her as a martyr and she died for Christ and whether the people are caught
 or not, they should forgive them. My prayer is that if they can accept Christ, that
 will be a gain to Christ,” the bereaved husband said.
A senior police officer at the Kubwa Divisional Police Station, confirmed the
 incident, but referred our correspondent to the Divisional Police Officer, who was
 not available.
The FCT Police Command told the News Agency of Nigeria that it had arrested some
 suspects in connection with the killing of the RCCG preacher.
FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Manzah Anjuguri, confirmed the arrest on Saturday.
He stated that the Command Commissioner of Police, Mr. Alkali Usman, 
had directed the homicide section to take over the investigation.
“We have made some arrests and they are helping in our investigation,” 
Anjuguri said.
He, however, did not mention the number of suspects arrested.
He said the personnel of the command had visited the scene of the incident, 
adding that further investigations had begun.
A lawyer and friend of the Elishas, David Ude-Chukwu, described Eunice’ 
murder as a hate crime brought about by religious insensitivity, noting that 
the constitution allowed every Nigerian to practice their chosen religion.
Ude-Chukwu, said, “I have known this family for about 20 years and I can describe
 Mrs. Elisha as an industrious, humble and Christian preacher who was passionate
 about Christ. When I heard that a woman was killed, I was wondering who it was 
until I learnt she was the victim of this barbarous and dastardly murder. Obviously, 
she was killed on account of her religious activity. Under the law, all Nigerians were
 permitted to practice their religion, but I don’t know why some people are 
intolerant. Her murder also showed that there is no security in this country.”
Another neighbour, Pastor Adebayo Tiamiyu, said of the slain preacher,
 “Mrs. Eunice Olawale was known as a passionate preacher who went out 
every morning to evangelise and she had been doing this for many years. 
Everybody loved her because of her passion for things of God. I learnt that
 she went out to preach as usual when she was attacked and killed by
 unknown people. She was stabbed in the neck and the stomach and nothing
 was taken from her because we saw her GSM phone, megaphone and
 Bible with her, so obviously, the intention was not to rob, but to kill her. 
The husband is still in shock and we had to sedate him, so that he can sleep.
 It is a very tragic incident and we call on security agencies to track down the 
perpetrators and bring them to book.”
A woman simply known as Asabe also said neighbours were shocked over 
the preacher’s murder.
She said, “Mrs. Olawale normally go out for evangelism everyday and she was 
well known in this area. We heard that a woman was killed around Pipeline 
junction, some metres from the house. In fact, it was one of her sons who came
 back to tell his father that he learnt a preacher was killed at the pipeline junction. 
We all went there and saw lot of blood on the ground, but the police had
 evacuated her corpse to their station. When Mr. Elisha got to the station and
 saw his wife’s corpse, he fainted and had to be revived.”
The RCCG Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Olanike Olaomo, said she was in a
 meeting of the church’s leadership and would get back to our correspondent.
She said, “I am in a meeting now, I can’t pick your call. But will send an SMS.”
She had, however, yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.



Buhari put an end to religious violence, don't take us to the dark past. 
Your actions of appointing mainly muslims as security chiefs as well as heads of judiciary 
is acting as motivation for these dastardly acts, knowing that justice will be undermined . 
The whole world is watching to see how the investigations and prosecution of 
these murderers and those of the woman in Kano and various others will end and then
 the real reasons for the lopsided appointments will become germane - Blogger