Rev. Isaac Omolehin, the founder of Word Assembly Ministries in Ilorin, has raised the alarm about a threat from bandits to attack his church camp located in Idofian village, within the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The cleric stated that the threat compelled him and his family to hide in order to stay safe.
Omolehin made this known in a statement released to journalists on Saturday through his spokesperson, Grace Edema.
He explained that the police came to the camp at midnight between May 30 and 31 and gave an order for immediate evacuation after a threat of an attack by bandits.
“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,” he said.
He revealed that although he was away when the evacuation took place, the kidnappers eventually came to the camp but met an empty facility.
“They came, the bandits, but they didn’t meet anybody,” he added.
He stated that the security threat had forced him to move from one location to another with his wife and children.
“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,” Omolehin said.
He explained that the facility served orphaned children and contained a primary school, secondary school, hospital, old people’s home, and a rehabilitation center for mentally challenged women rescued from the streets, together with 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 added.
Omolehin stated that over 100 residents of the camp are now dispersed across various locations, as authorities have not yet declared the area safe for their return.
“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,” the cleric stated.
He also stated that reports were also submitted to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which supervises orphanages and rehabilitation centers, but he said no official response had been received.
“Three days after the attack on my camp here in Kwara, my village in Kogi State was also attacked, and my people were killed. When they missed me here in Kwara, they went to my village and attacked my people.
“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.
“Those were different criminals. 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.”
