How We Met, Became Lovers — Onadeko Opens Up On Romance With Late Actress Temitope Osoba, Says She Died At Police Station

LAGOS.

Prophet Itunu Onadeko, fiancé of late Nollywood actress Temitope Osoba, has for the first time given a detailed account of how their relationship began, while also disputing widely circulated claims about the circumstances of her death, insisting she died at a police station in Ikorodu rather than from breast cancer complications.

Onadeko, the Shepherd-in-charge of CCC Onibuore Cathedral, Bogije, in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State, spoke in an interview with the Celestial Reality Check, the Media Investigative Unit of the Celestial Church of Christ, on Saturday.

Findings show his account was as much a rebuttal of speculation trailing Osoba’s death as it was a personal tribute, addressing both how the couple met and what he says actually happened on the night she died.

How They Met

According to Onadeko, the relationship began not through the entertainment industry but through his church. He disclosed that Osoba’s younger sister first reached out, telling him that her elder sister wanted him to pray for her.

Checks by ValidViewNetwork show he already knew of Osoba by reputation before that introduction, having followed her work in Yoruba-language Nollywood productions for years.

After praying for her and seeing her return to his church over several days to complete what he described as her “redemption work,” a friendship developed between them.

Friendship Grew Into Romance

Onadeko said the friendship shifted into something more after a chance encounter one evening when Osoba found him buying food outside and asked whether he had a wife.

What began as a joke, with Osoba telling him she liked him and wanted to marry him, grew into a genuine romantic relationship, and the two eventually began dating and later got engaged.

Disputing The Cause Of Death

Osoba’s death on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at the age of 40, was announced publicly by actor Alesh Sanni and triggered an outpouring of tributes across Nollywood and among fans, many of whom had followed her very public recovery from breast cancer roughly a year earlier, a journey she had described at the time as one of “rebranding, reshaping and rebuilding.”

That recovery narrative fuelled widespread assumptions that cancer had ultimately claimed her life, alongside separate rumours of poisoning and maltreatment in her final days. Onadeko rejected all three explanations, maintaining that none of them reflected what he says actually happened.

ADVERTISEMENT

What Onadeko Says Happened That Night

Onadeko narrated that Osoba had travelled to visit a woman he identified as Mrs Kehinde Osoba, described as a fellow church operator, accompanied by a hairdresser who had been staying with her.

He said he had been unable to join them that day because of church programmes, but that he and Osoba stayed in touch, including a social media post she made while en route.

He said he later learned of her death from an unnamed caller around midnight, telling the outlet, “It was a random person that called me around 12 am that she died in a police station in Ikorodu.”

Onadeko said he did not know the specific station where she died but went to report himself at a nearby one afterward.

Who Was Temitope Osoba

Temitope Kofoworola Osoba was born on December 2, 1985, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and was related through her father’s family to a former Ogun State governor, Olusegun Osoba.

She held a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education from Olabisi Onabanjo University and worked as a dancer and video vixen before entering Nollywood around 2005, a career shift she often described in interviews as unplanned.

Her breakthrough came with a role in “Oogun Mi,” a Yoruba-language film produced by actress Dayo Amusa, and she went on to build a following in Yoruba Nollywood over roughly two decades.

Burial Arrangements

Tope Osoba is set to be buried on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at Iperu Remo in Ogun State.

As of Sunday, no official autopsy findings or police statement had been made public to independently confirm Onadeko’s account of where and how she died, leaving his version, alongside the cancer and poisoning theories he disputes, as competing accounts pending any formal clarification from authorities in Ikorodu.