June 20,2022

Gunmen who stormed the Celestial Church of Christ, Oshofa, Wasimi, in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State last Monday and abducted two leaders of the church have released the victims.

The founder of the church, Oluwatomisin Olugbebi, who disclosed the news of their release on Sunday to PUNCH Metro said the victims were released on Saturday after the armed kidnappers collected rice, beans, cigarettes, gin and N1 million ransom.

It was earlier reported that gunmen in masks and fez caps invaded the church and abducted one of the church leaders known as the Assistant Shepherd (assistant pastor), Oluwaseun Ajose and a Sunday school teacher, Dagunro Ayobami

According to the church founder, Olugbebi, kidnappers had on Thursday reduced their demand from N50m to N10m.

Then, on Saturday morning, they called and reduced the ransom demand to N1 million and also demanded foodstuffs including rice, beans, cigarettes and gin. The victims were then released after those items and the money were delivered to their abductors.

“They called on Saturday morning and demanded foodstuffs (rice, beans), cigarettes and gin. They said we should pay N1m for the two of them. I pleaded with them that we didn’t even have up to that, but they said they won’t accept anything less than a million.

“When we heard this, the family of the victims sat on how to get the money and they raised a total of N221,000. Thankfully, well-wishers and other church members balanced it up.

“They did not give a specific location where we should drop the money. They asked to speak to the sister of one of the victims and told her to come to a certain location. When she got there, she called them and they told her to give the phone to the bike rider.

“They told the bike rider their location without disclosing it to her. The bike rider then took her to the location where the money and the requested foodstuffs were dropped. After like 10 minutes, they asked her to come and pick them (victims) up at the bus stop,” Olugbebi said.

Also confirming the release of the abducted church leaders, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, said, “They regained their freedom last night (Saturday) due to sustained pressure mounted by the police on the kidnappers.”