A cleric, Revd. Johnson Oladimeji, of Solution Baptist Church, Ikere Ekiti, was on Friday found dead in his car along the Igbara Odo – Ikere Ekiti Road.

Sources alleged that he was shot dead in his car on Thursday while returning to Ikere Ekiti from a trip to Osun State.

According to a source, his worried church and family members, who had expected him back on Thursday had organized a search party which later found him dead in his car on the road not far away from the University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti.

Another source said, “The man was returning from Osun State on Thursday evening and decided to make use of the Igbara Odo route to Ikere-Ekiti when he was ambushed and shot dead by the gunmen in the evening.

“After series of calls to his phone numbers with no response, members of the church decided to start searching for him and he was found dead with gunshot wounds on Friday evening in his car along the road close to the college, now a university,” the source said.

The President of Ekiti Baptist Church, Revd Adeyinka Aribasoye, said the deceased had traveled to see his mother at Ipetu Ijesa in Osun State and was returning from the journey when the incident occurred.

Aribasoye, who said the cleric might have been shot at by kidnappers because he did not stop for them, said, “Family members were already expecting him, but when they found out that he was taking too late, they began to make series of contacts and search before they found out that he had been killed on the road.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Command, Sunday Abutu, said, “I have not received any signal to that effect. I am not aware of any incident like that yet.”