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.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that the church management was so passionate about the thanksgiving service such that, for members who couldn’t make the thanksgiving service, the Technical Unit of the church arranged for the live coverage of the service to enable them to watch it on Facebook. The live streaming of the thanksgiving service, was however abruptly aborted by the invasion of the bandits which reportedly lasted up to an hour.
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.
Saturday Vanguard reliably gathered that some people in the church initially thought it was the sound of knockouts and bangers heralding Christmas season until the four bandits carrying AK-47 rifles with live ammunition rudely entered the church, firing gun shots.
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.
Saturday Vanguard reliably gathered that unknown to the church members, the bandits already had foreknowledge of the thanksgiving service and had climbed on top of the trees around the church premises waiting for the right moment to strike. Midway into the Church service, the bandits were said to have jumped down from the trees and stormed the Church to attack the congregation.
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”.
Community recounts ordeal, calls for investigation
Curious that the attack on the community came after some members of local vigilantes were reportedly taken to Ilorin to be trained as Forests Guards, which was the same narrative that occurred when Oke-Ode Community was attacked few months ago, the angry Eruku community has therefore called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun to investigate the attacks.
One of the victims, Adesuyi Joshua, whose wife and granddaughter were among those abducted, recounted the horror. “They took my wife and our granddaughter, who were in the church, alongside about 30 other people. At first, we thought the gunshots were knockouts, but the sound changed.
By the time we mobilised ourselves to confront the attackers, it was too late. We have soldiers around this place. We also have a police station, but nothing was done throughout the attack. When we were pursuing the bandits, the police started shooting from their gate. We thought it was the bandits again. When we got to the station, they tear-gassed us and allowed the attackers to escape,” he alleged.
Another youth leader, Shola Peters, also accused the police of failing the community despite benefitting from local support. “These are the same police officers the town supported. We built houses for the DPO and the policemen. But when we needed them most, they failed us. Instead of joining us to pursue the bandits, they stopped us. The Inspector General needs to probe the Eruku division. All they do here is to harass young boys and tag them as Yahoo boys or cultists. It was about the time when some of our local vigilantes were taken to Ilorin to be trained as Forests Guards that the bandits attacked us, the same way it occurred in Oke-Ode some months ago, this should be investigated, this is not ordinary.
“We need the Commissioner of Police and the Inspector General to come and probe the police here. We don’t want them again. Let the government give us guns; we can protect ourselves.”
He added that despite having only “a Dane gun and one pump-action,” the youths confronted the armed attackers. “Their firepower was too much. They came with AK-49 rifles and machine guns.”
