Nigerian Cleric Goes Into Hiding After Mummified Body Found Buried at His Cameroon Church

Nigerian Cleric Goes Into Hiding After Mummified Body Found Buried at His Cameroon Church

  • Cameroonian police launched a manhunt for Nigerian cleric Kedi Samuel Kenechukwu after a mummified body was discovered buried beneath his church property in Yaoundé
  • The remains, found inside a coffin roughly 1.5 metres underground, appeared to belong to a woman dressed in traditional attire, though her identity remains unconfirmed
  • The gruesome find came just weeks after 20 people were reportedly rescued from a basement at a separate property linked to the same ministry

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A Nigerian cleric has fled and gone into hiding after Cameroonian authorities uncovered a mummified body buried on land tied to his church in Yaoundé, triggering an active manhunt involving Interpol.

kedi samuel kenechukwu, mercy of god ministry, cameroon church body, nigerian cleric cameroon, yaounde church investigation, nkoabang body discovery
Cameroonian police launch a manhunt for Nigerian cleric Kedi Samuel Kenechukwu after a mummified body was found buried at his Yaoundé church. Image credit: Nigerian Stories.
Source: Twitter

Officers attached to the Nkoabang Special Police Station stumbled on the grim discovery around 9am on September 19, 2026, during an ongoing probe into Kedi Samuel Kenechukwu, who also goes by Ekedi Samuel.

Local residents had reportedly damaged parts of the property beforehand, which exposed the hidden underground chamber to investigators.

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Buried close to 1.5 metres beneath a broken concrete slab, they found a white-and-gold coffin holding a mummified body dressed in traditional blue attire with gold embroidery, believed at first glance to be that of a woman.

Neither her identity nor the circumstances surrounding her death have been established, and security teams were still awaiting clearance to expand the search across the rest of the property for any further remains.

Below is an X post by Nigerian Stories explaining the situation.

Earlier raids exposed a wider ministry network

This was not the first unsettling find tied to the property.

A search conducted ten days earlier, on September 9, turned up five vehicles, hundreds of kilogrammes of stockpiled food, working freezers, close to 30 rooms, and a separate two-metre pit whose function investigators could not immediately explain.

That search followed an even earlier operation on September 6 at another site linked to Kenechukwu's Mercy of God Ministry in Yaoundé's Ngousso area, where officers reportedly found 20 people, including 10 women, 8 men, and 2 children aged six and seven, confined inside a basement.

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Kenechukwu, described by Cameroonian outlet Camer.be as a Nigerian prophet who has run operations in the country since 2018, now faces accusations spanning human trading, unlawful detention, and kidnapping.

Manhunt widens as cleric remains at large

Kenechukwu has yet to be located, and Cameroonian authorities have since alerted border security agencies and brought Interpol into the search for him.

The investigation into both the newly discovered remains and the broader activities linked to his ministry's properties continues, with officials yet to disclose whether more victims or evidence may still be found.

Ghanaian pastor also wanted after fake currency bust

In an earlier report by YEN.com.gh, Ghanaian pastor Rev. Emmanuel Boakye-Danquah went into hiding after National Security uncovered an alleged multimillion-dollar counterfeit currency operation allegedly run out of his church in Klagon.

Investigators reportedly found the church's administrative offices and residential quarters being used to produce and store counterfeit notes, alongside millions of cedis, dollars, and CFA francs in unprocessed coupons.

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Source: YEN.com.gh

Authors:
Ben-oni Blay avatar

Ben-oni Blay (Entertainment Editor) Ben-Oni Quao Blay is an Entertainment Editor at YEN.com.gh with a Master's degree in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Cape Coast. He has over five years of experience in SEO content creation, digital publishing, and audience analytics. Before joining YEN.com.gh, he served as Lead Content Creator and Writer at the International Filmmakers Association (Germany), where he covered film and entertainment. He holds Google certifications in Digital Marketing and SEO. Contact him at benoni.blay@yen.com.gh.