A threat of a bandit attack has forced the founder of Word Assembly Ministries, Ilorin, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, his family and more than 100 residents to flee a church camp in Idofian village, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Omolehin said the evacuation followed a midnight warning by police officers who arrived at the camp between May 30 and 31 and directed residents to leave the facility over intelligence of an impending attack.
The cleric disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Saturday by his spokesperson, Grace Edema.
According to him, the sudden evacuation left the camp deserted, forcing residents, including children and staff of facilities operating within the premises, to seek safety in different locations.
“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,” Omolehin said.
He claimed that the suspected bandits eventually arrived at the facility but left after finding nobody there.
“They came, the bandits, but they didn’t meet anybody,” he added.
Omolehin said he was not at the camp when the evacuation order was issued but has since been moving between different locations with his wife and children because of the security threat.
“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,” he said.
The cleric said more than 100 people lived at the camp, which he described as a facility providing several social services, including a primary school, secondary school, hospital, old people’s home and a rehabilitation centre for women rescued from the streets and their children.
He said the security situation had brought activities at the facility to a halt.
“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.
According to Omolehin, the displaced residents have remained scattered because authorities have yet to confirm that the area is safe for them to return.
He said the camp management had written to the police seeking clarification on whether residents could safely return, particularly following the resumption of schools.
“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,” he said.
He added that reports had also been submitted to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which supervises orphanages and rehabilitation centres.
Omolehin further alleged that the security situation extended beyond the Kwara camp.
He claimed that his village in Kogi State was attacked three days after the incident at the camp, resulting in the deaths of some community members.
The claim could not be independently verified at the time of filing.
Omolehin said the buildings at the Kwara camp were not destroyed during the alleged attack but were later targeted by thieves after the facility was abandoned.
“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,” he said.
He stressed that the people who allegedly looted the facility were different from the suspected kidnappers.
“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,” he added.
The cleric, who is known for his criticism of denominational divisions within the Nigerian Church, said the security concerns had not stopped his religious advocacy despite what he described as opposition to his ministry.
“The attacks are still going on, but they don’t affect me. Jesus already told us that our preaching may be resisted,” he said.
Omolehin also disclosed that he was recently barred from preaching in Baptist churches, saying the restriction was imposed about a month before his latest disclosure.
He appealed to the Federal Government and the Kwara State Government to strengthen security around the camp to enable him, his family and the displaced residents to return.
He said the appeal was particularly urgent because some of the children at the facility had been referred there by government authorities.
“I want to appeal to the government to improve security so that I can return to the camp with my family and all the people I look after. Some of the children in the orphanage were brought to us by the government. Even if they say they don’t care about the rest of us, what about the children they entrusted to us?” he said.
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Kwara State Police Command were unsuccessful, as the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, did not respond to calls or messages as of the time of filing this report.
The claims made by the cleric regarding the alleged bandit threat, the police evacuation order and the security situation at the camp remain subject to further confirmation from security authorities.
