Eleven months after his death, controversial Prophet Elijah Iretiola Ajanaku’s burial rites commenced Thursday morning at his church, Christ Revival City Chapel International, CRCCI, Ikola Akinwale Street, off Oluwada, Baruwa Ipaja, Lagos State, western Nigeria.
PM News reports that his remains arrived at the church premises at exactly 9:30 a.m. and the funeral rites began immediately.
Thousands of anxious Nigerians, who were shocked that the remains of the pastor, who died in his hometown, Gbongan, Osun State, last year, remained in the mortuary up till now, trooped to the church to ascertain that Ajanaku, who many also thought had been allegedly buried by cultists immediately he died, was never buried after all.
Many people waited anxiously for the casket bearing the remains of the dead pastor to be opened. But there was no indication that the casket would be opened.
Many of those who were there didn’t come to pay their last respects to the deceased but to catch a glimpse of the late pastor.
After the service at the church, his remains will be taken to his palatial home in Ikola, Agbado Oke Odo LCDA, where he will be interred.
When Ajanaku died in his hometown last year, his church gave the impression that he was abroad.
There were reports also that his corpse was brought to Lagos State by traditional cultists who allegedly held traditional rites for seven days in his Ikola home.
The controversy that followed was that some of his parts were removed and that he had been hurriedly buried.
But his wife, Joy Iretiola, denied the vile claims and said his body had been deposited in a mortuary.
Another unsubstantiated report had it that he was not buried because of the warning by the cultists that if they buried him, his family members would die one after the other. But that also may have been concocted, following his burial Thursday in Lagos.
