The Founder and General Overseer of Word Assembly Ministries, Ilorin, Rev Isaac Omolehin, has warned of an impending attack on his church camp at Idofian village in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State by bandits.
The cleric said the threat compelled him and his family to go into hiding for safety, Sunday PUNCH reports.
This was reported by Omolehin through his spokesman, Grace Oedema in a statement to press yesterday.
“The police came to the camp at midnight between May 30 and 31 and told us to leave immediately after a warning of an attack by bandits,” he said.
The preacher, who has been vocal in his criticism of denominational splits in the Nigerian Church, said the threat drove him, his family and more than 100 inmates of the facility to abandon the camp. African & Diaspora
The camp, he said, had been evacuated and remained empty, leaving the people homeless.
“In the middle of the nite the police came to my camp and told everybody to run because the kidnappers were coming to attack me. “The whole camp has been vacated and it has been deserted ever since,” he claimed.
He said he was not around when the evacuation took place but the kidnappers came later to the camp only to find it deserted.
He added: “The bandits came, but they didn’t find anybody.”
The security danger had made him shift from one place to another with his wife and children, he added.
“I have a house I can’t go into. I have an automobile I can’t drive. I have to hide myself from the world. If I sleep here now, tomorrow I will sleep somewhere else. “I am homeless with my wife and children,” Omolehin stated.
He claimed the facility cared for orphaned children and housed a primary school, secondary school, hospital, old people’s home and a rehabilitation center for mentally challenged women rescued from the streets and their children.
“Bandits pushed us out of there. “The school cannot open, the hospital is not working and the patients and nurses all ran for their lives,” he added.
Authorities have not yet declared the place safe for inhabitants to return, and more than 100 people from the camp are now split in various locations, Omolehin added.
“We wrote to the police because they were the ones who told us to leave. Schools had started again and we have more than a hundred children that need to go to school and we enquired if it is safe for us to go back. No response,” the cleric said.
He said reports were also made to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare which oversees orphanages and rehabilitation centers, but said he had gotten no formal response.
“Three days after the attack on my camp here in Kwara, my village in Kogi State was also attacked and my people were killed. If they miss me here in kwara they go to my village and attack my people.
“The kidnappers did not destroy our buildings. The buildings in the camp are still standing. But within days of us leaving, robbers started breaking into the camp and stealing our stuff.
They were distinct types of crooks. The kidnappers didn’t come for fans, mattresses or freezers. They were after people. “The kidnappers are not the same people who looted our property.
Omolehin claimed he has been criticised, with attacks ranging from social media abuse to limits on his ministry.
“The attacks still happen, but they don’t get to me. Jesus already told us that our preaching will be resisted.
“About a month ago the Baptists told me I couldn’t preach in their churches,” he said.
He urged the Federal and Kwara State government to bolster the security in the camp to enable displaced people to return, stressing that some of the orphaned children under his care were referred to the camp by government authorities.
“I want to urge to the authorities to increase security so that I can come back to the camp with my family and all the individuals I look for. The government sent us some of the children from the orphanage. What about the kids they left with us, even if they don’t care about the rest of us?” he said.
Attempts to gain a comment from the state police command, however, proved futile as the Police Public Relations Officer, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi did not answer to calls or texts as of the time of filing this story.
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