Family members after my life for converting to Christianity, man cries out

A middle-aged man, Mr Michael Agbede, has raised alarm over the threat to his life for converting to Christianity from traditional religion.

He similarly raised an alarm over the kidnap of his 9-year old son, Emmanuel.

According to Agbede, who hails from Igbara-Oke, the headquarters of Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State, the incident to the threat of his life began a long time ago, when his family members were against his decision to convert to Christianity from their traditional religion of worshipping masquerade.

In a chat, he said his decision brought about the discord between him and his family members, a situation which he disclosed, led to several attempts to kidnap him.
Agbede recalled that on several occasions, some of his family members had visited his church in Ibadan, with the aim of kidnapping him, but their failure to know his whereabouts resulted in destroying the church property worth several thousands of naira.

He narrated further that, “Till now, as I am talking to you, I don’t know the whereabouts of my 9-year old son, Emmanuel. I don’t know if he was kidnapped by herdsmen or ritualists, because he was kidnapped at his school in Ibadan.
“From my investigation, I could say the kidnap of my son is connected to some members of my family who had been on my trail. I was the person they had attempted to kidnap initially. They came all the way from Ekiti where I was living to Ibadan at Fayemi area, Coca-Cola, Songo Ibadan, where I relocated in search of me.

“They did not know I was not there when they stormed the place, because my co-neighbour, Mrs Yewande Ajayi testified to it when they came, looking for me on July 8, 2018. They equally stormed my church (name withheld) to kidnap me as well, but they could not find me there. They destroyed the church property in annoyance.

“At a point, I travelled for work to another place, hoping that by the time I will come back, the issue would have been over, but they still visited my place again in Ibadan, because they thought I was avoiding them.”

“Their failure to know my whereabouts led to the kidnap of my son. Sometime in September, they had attempted to kidnap him with his aunty, named Yetunde Agbede, who is my younger sister, but they escaped before they were re-kidnapped in October.

“Even my cousin, Temitope Agbede can testify to what happened. Since my son’s kidnap, the kidnappers have not requested any ransom, which means they deliberately kidnapped my son because of their failure to know my whereabouts.

“We had reported the case to the police and investigation is ongoing to unravel the mystery behind my son’s kidnap and to arrest those behind the incident,” he said.

(Vanguard)

•A masquerad