Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
An Apostolic Faith Mission pastor has killed himself by drinking poison after a disagreement with his girlfriend.
A gospel musician who is also a junior pastor has killed himself in a bush near his home. The pastor identified as Richard Nhika took his own life by consuming a poisonous substance believed to be cotton pesticide. The incident happened in Zimbabwe.
Richard who was now an Apostolic Faith Mission junior pastor was taken to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals where he died the following day, reports H-metro.
According to information obtained from the video, Richard, 38 killed himself over a misunderstanding with his girlfriend only identified as Nomatter.
“I will always love you Nomatter, which is why when I saw you I never insulted you or said anything bad.
“I have decided to die next to this tree so that everyone can see, this is real poison you can even see for yourself.
“I will always love you Nomatter and thank you for taking away my life,” he said whilst drinking the pesticide.
Family spokespersons Pauline Busu and Nyasha Nhika said they were saddened by the death of their relative. They said they never thought Richard would decide to end his life considering his spiritual background.
“When we got to the scene where he committed suicide, we found the video in his phone which he had shot taking away his life.
“We are convinced that this was a spiritual attack that happened to him because in his normal senses, he would not have done something like this.
“He was a pastor at AFM Church and he was actually launching his album he featured Mathias Mhere, Dereck Mpofu and Sharon Manyonganise and no one ever expected him to do such a thing.
“We are receiving calls from many people who he ministered to, even some influential people are also calling us sending their condolence messages.
“Two days before he died, he would wake up in the middle of the night praying and no one ever bothered to ask what was going on in his life,” Pauline said.
When asked whether they knew the reason he committed suicide, Nyasha interjected:
“He was fine, he never shared with us if he was facing any problems with anyone, we only heard of him mentioning a lady called Nomatter in his video.
“From what he was saying in the video, it seems she was his girlfriend and they were having some challenges.
“However, no one from our family had ever met her, but we are looking forward to seeing her so that she explains to us what really went wrong between her and Richard.
“So far from the investigations we made, we were informed that they go to the same church and they were in love.”
Meanwhile, mourners are gathered at Nhika’s family house in Chitungwiza. His body will be ferried from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals straight to Marondera Cemetery.