Kidnappers on rampage in Ogun, Delta

.Abduct 5 RCCG pastors on way to ministers’ conference

.Invade Delta community, whisk away pastor, wife, two others

.We’ll get them released soon – Police

Abiodun Taiwo, Abeokuta & Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

Suspected kidnappers went on rampage in Ogun and Delta states on Thursday and Friday, resulting in the abduction of no fewer than nine persons.

In Ogun State, five ministers of the Redeemed Christian Church of God were abducted on their way to attend the church’s Ministers’ Conference in Lagos.

The General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, announced the abduction on Friday while speaking at the Redeemed Camp.

Pastor Adeboye said the abduction took place on Thursday along the Ijebu-Ode axis and he enjoined the congregation to pray for the release of the abductees.

He noted that this is the first time this type of incident with such magnitude was happening.

Adeboye added: “As a father, how do you think I should feel to hear that five of my children have been kidnapped while on their way to attend the Ministers Conference?”

Meanwhile, Ogun State Police Command on Friday disclosed that it has geographically located the forest where five members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) abducted at the J3, Ogbere – Ijebu – Ode (Ogun State) stretch of the Lagos – Ore expressway, were kept.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who made this known while speaking with reporters at the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abeokuta, identified the victims as Chidioze Eluwa, Chiemela Iroha, Okoro Ohowukwe, Ndubuizi Owuabueze and Ibeleji Chidinma (female).

Abimbola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), added the Command’s rescue team are trying to be tactical and professional in storming the location in order not to jeopardise safety of the victims.

He said the victims, who boarded a commercial vehicle from the Eastern part of the country and heading to the RCCG’s programme, were abducted and taken into the forest.

He said: “On the 1st of August 2019, at about 3:30 pm, the Ogun State Police command received an information that a commercial vehicle with registration number KW 230 XA belonging to Abia line transport company was coming from the Eastern part of the country heading towards Lagos. On getting to J3 area of Ogbere, some hoodlums numbering about 10 suddenly came out of the forest and forcefully stopped the vehicle.

”Five amongst the passengers namely Chidioze Eluwa, Chiemela Iroha, Okoro Ohowukwe, Ndubuizi Owuabueze, and Ibeleji Chidinma (female) were abducted and taken to the forest.

“The Commissioner of Police, CP Bashir Makama, is personally leading the operation to rescue the victims with operatives from the command’s tactical squads combing the entire area.

“The hideout of the hoodlums has been geo-located but our men are trying to be tactical and professional in order not to jeopardise the lives of the victims we are making efforts to rescue.

“With the operation going on presently, we are rest assured that the victims will soon regain their freedom and the hoodlums will definitively be brought to book.

Also gunmen believed to be kidnappers operating within Delta State in the early hours of Friday stormed Onicha Uku Kingdom in Aniocha North Local Government Area of the state and abducted a Pastor and his wife including two others in the area.

The victims: Pastor Solomon Anugum and his wife, both of a popular Pentecostal Church in the community, were said to have been ordered into a waiting vehicle of the gunmen without a plate number after which the gunmen fired several gunshots into the air to scare passers-by who tried to raise the alarm for the help of the victims.

But Police Commissioner in the state, Adeleke Adeyinka, who confirmed the incident, said that the Police were on top of the situation and assured that the Police would rescue the victims in no distant time, and warned against all forms of criminal activities in the state.

“We are on top of the incident and we shall rescue the victims unhurt. We are warning all criminals to relocate elsewhere or they will not find things easier with our men who are on ground with a view to ensuring criminals are brought to book”, Adeyinka said.

While the fear of the unknown has continued to grip residents of the community, eye witness, Ifeoma Gabriel, said that the kidnappers on their way out of the community abducted two farmers who were on their way to the farm lands, adding that they shot two others who tried to raise the alarm.

Though the kidnappers were yet to establish ransom contact, but pastors including prayer warriors have been mobilised for prayers to ensure the pastor and the wife are released unhurt, while the victims’ Church members who did not want to be mentioned claimed the kidnappers have allegedly threatened through a letter to the pastor to stop disturbing them with his prayers as his refusal might spell doom for him.

Investigation revealed that in the past two weeks, two persons have been abducted within Issele Uku Kingdom axis and were later released after allegedly paying ransom to the kidnappers by members of their families.