Three days earlier, four worshippers were killed as they prayed, in the latest murders blamed on a shadowy gang dubbed the Badoo, believed to have killed 30 people since June last year.
So-called "cult killings" -- gang violence often fuelled by drugs and belief in black magic -- are not a new phenomenon in Nigeria, which is nearly evenly split between a Muslim north and Christian south.
Crime often spikes during times of economic hardship.
But the murders by the Badoo are making headlines because of their increasing frequency and the manner in which victims are dispatched.
"They must have scaled the fence and hypnotised the victims before carrying out their deadly act," Israel Ojobaro, an engineer who lives on the church premises, told AFP.