A popular Kwara State cleric, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, has said a suspected bandit threat forced him, his family and more than 100 residents of his church camp in Idofian, Ifelodun Local Government Area, to flee the community.
Omolehin, founder of Word Assembly Ministries, said the evacuation also disrupted the operations of a school, hospital, orphanage, old people’s home and rehabilitation centre located within the church camp.
According to a statement by his spokesperson, Grace Edema, police officers arrived at the camp around midnight between May 30 and 31 and ordered residents to leave immediately over intelligence that kidnappers were planning to attack the facility.
“The police came to my camp in the middle of the night and asked everybody to run because kidnappers were coming to attack me,” Omolehin said.
He said the entire camp was subsequently deserted and has remained largely empty since the evacuation.
The cleric, who was away from the facility when the warning was issued, said the suspected kidnappers later arrived but found the camp deserted.
He said he had since been moving from one location to another with his wife and children because he could no longer safely return home.
“I have a house I can’t enter. I have a car I can’t ride. I have to hide myself from the public,” he said.
Omolehin said the security situation had affected not only his family but also vulnerable people dependent on the facilities at the camp.
He said the complex houses orphaned children, a primary school, secondary school, hospital, old people’s home and a rehabilitation centre for mentally challenged women rescued from the streets and their children.
“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.
The cleric said he had written to the police seeking confirmation that the area was safe enough for the residents to return, particularly because schools had resumed and more than 100 children needed to return to classes.
He said no response had been received.
According to him, reports had also been sent to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, but the situation remained unresolved.
Omolehin further alleged that three days after the security threat in Kwara, his village in Kogi State was attacked, resulting in the death of some members of his community.
“When they missed me here in Kwara, they went to my village and attacked my people,” he alleged.
He clarified that the suspected kidnappers did not destroy the camp’s buildings, but said criminals had begun breaking into the abandoned facility and stealing property.
“The kidnappers did not come to steal refrigerators or mattresses. They came for human beings. The people looting our property are different criminals,” he said.
Despite the disruption, Omolehin said he remained committed to his ministry and appealed to the Federal and Kwara State governments to strengthen security around the camp.
He particularly urged the authorities to consider the plight of the children in the orphanage, some of whom he said had been entrusted to the facility by government authorities.
“Even if they say they don’t care about the rest of us, what about the children they entrusted to us?” he asked.
The allegations contained in the cleric’s account could not be independently verified.
Tighten the lead around the children
Reduce repetitive attribution and quotations
Replace ‘mentally challenged’ with respectful language
