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The founder of Word Assembly Ministries, Ilorin, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, has recounted how a threat by bandits forced him, his family and more than 100 residents to flee his church camp in Idofian village, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Omolehin said the incident occurred after police officers arrived at the camp around midnight between May 30 and 31 and ordered everyone to evacuate following intelligence about an impending attack by bandits.
The cleric disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Saturday by his spokesperson, Grace Edema.
According to him, the sudden evacuation left the camp deserted, with residents, including children and staff of various facilities, forced to seek safety in different locations.
“The police came to my camp in the middle of the night and asked everybody to run because kidnappers were coming to attack me. The whole camp was deserted, and it has remained deserted,” Omolehin said.
He said the bandits eventually arrived at the facility but found no one there.
“They came, the bandits, but they didn’t meet anybody,” he added.
Omolehin said he was not at the camp when the evacuation order was issued but has since been forced to move from one location to another with his wife and children because of the security threat.
“I have a house I can’t enter. I have a car I can’t ride. I have to hide myself from the public. If I sleep here today, I’ll sleep somewhere else tomorrow. I’m homeless with my wife and children,” he said.
The cleric said the camp was home to more than 100 people and provided several social services, including a primary school, secondary school, hospital, old people’s home and a rehabilitation centre for women rescued from the streets and their children.
He said the security situation had brought activities at the facility to a halt.
“Bandits chased us out of that place. The school cannot open, the hospital is not functioning, and the patients and nurses all ran for their lives,” he said.
Omolehin said the displaced residents remained scattered because authorities had yet to confirm that the area was safe for them to return.
He said the camp management had written to the police, seeking clarification on whether it was safe to return, particularly because schools had resumed and more than 100 children needed to return to school.
“We wrote to the police because they were the ones who asked us to leave. We asked if it was safe for us to return because schools had resumed and we have over a hundred children that need to go to school. There has been no response,” he said.
According to him, reports were also submitted to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which supervises orphanages and rehabilitation centres.
Omolehin further alleged that the security crisis extended beyond the Kwara camp, claiming that his village in Kogi State was attacked three days after the incident at the camp, with some members of the community killed.
He said the bandits did not damage the buildings at the Kwara facility but warned that criminals later broke into the deserted camp and stole property.
“The kidnappers did not destroy our buildings; the structures in the camp are still intact. However, a few days after we evacuated, thieves began breaking into the camp and carting away our belongings,” he said.
He stressed that the people who looted the facility were different from the bandits who allegedly threatened to abduct residents.
“The kidnappers did not come to steal refrigerators, fans or mattresses. They came for human beings. The people who looted our property are not the same as the kidnappers,” he added.
The cleric, who is known for his criticism of denominational divisions within the Nigerian Church, said the security concerns had not stopped him from his religious advocacy despite what he described as opposition to his ministry.
“The attacks are still going on, but they don’t affect me. Jesus already told us that our preaching may be resisted,” he said.
Omolehin also disclosed that he was recently barred from preaching in Baptist churches, saying the restriction was imposed about a month before his latest disclosure.
He appealed to the Federal Government and the Kwara State Government to improve security around the camp to enable him, his family and the displaced residents to return.
The cleric said the appeal was particularly urgent because some of the orphaned children at the facility had been referred there by government authorities.
“I want to appeal to the government to improve security so that I can return to the camp with my family and all the people I look after. Some of the children in the orphanage were brought to us by the government. Even if they say they don’t care about the rest of us, what about the children they entrusted to us?” he said.
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Kwara State Police Command were unsuccessful, as the Police Public Relations Officer, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, did not respond to calls or messages as of the time of filing the report.
