The Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Oke-Isegun at Oke-Ado street in Eruku, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara state was unusually filled up last Tuesday at about 6:30 pm, unknown to the congregation that danger was lurking around the corner.
The reason for the huge crowd which consisted of friends, family members and well-wishers, both aged and young, was the thanksgiving service of the 18 kidnapped residents of the community who regained freedom last week when the bandits struck some months ago.
The service had started in earnest and the congregation was celebrating the safe return of their abducted members in their midst, when the staccato sounds of gunshots rented the air from outside the church premises.
Bewilderment and shock gripped the congregation as they were confronted with the dare devil bandits inside the Church of God. Within the twinkle of an eye, the bandits shot three of the worshippers dead and abducted thirty five others. In an irony of fate, those who were in church celebrating the release of the abducted community members were themselves abducted and taken into the forest.
The Resident Pastor of the church, Pastor Lawrence Abiodun Bamidele, in an interview with journalists said, “we were having a Thanksgiving service for the 18 people who were kidnapped three weeks ago, and were released. We were thanking God for their safe return, not knowing that danger was lurking around.
The incident happened unexpectedly and so fast. The bandits came in and surrounded the church, shooting sporadically. Some who ran outside were shot from a tree, where one of the bandits was already hiding. In the pandemonium, three people died on the spot, and 35 church members were kidnapped”.
He said, “for four weeks, the bandits had been making desperate attempts to storm the community through Eruku/Egbe and Eruku/Omu-Aran roads but they were successfully resisted until Tuesday when they gained access to the town.” Olasukanmi also said that when the bandits were making efforts to penetrate the community, several calls made to the state and local government were unanswered.
Olasukanmi however commended the efforts of the local police which had been assisting the local vigilantes to chase the bandits away from the forests.
According to him,”The police in the community had been doing a fantastic job by following our local hunters to the forests to track the hideout of the bandits and chase them away, otherwise, it would have been a worst case for us. All efforts we made to the state and local government when the bandits were making efforts to penetrate our community and they were being resisted by our local hunters were not answered. If they had answered us, this attack would not have happened. The bandits reinforced and that was why they were able to penetrate our community”.
