There has been a bit of some unrest in Ondo State as the Ondo State Police Command has reportedly announced that a total of 77 people including women and children were discovered to have been locked in the underground part of a church; Whole Bible Deliverance Church located at Valentino Area of Ondo town, Ondo State.
The police had reported that the victims comprised 23 kids and 54 others including teenagers and adults, males and females.
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It was alleged that the victims were kidnapped and kept in the underground apartment of the church for over six months before they were rescued. The church’s pastor and some other members are currently in the custody of the command while the police had begun investigation into the matter
In a viral video, the victims were seen in a patrol vehicle of the police who took them to the police station.
In a one-minute, 40 seconds video, a voice was heard saying, “There are kidnapped children found in the underground cell of a church in Valentino Area of Ondo. The pastor and some members of the church have been arrested and were also in the police patrol van.’’
A source had revealed to some newsmen on the scene that the parents of the victims who were apprehensive about their children abandoning them for the church reported the matter to the police.
Some of them had also alleged that their children were hypnotised.
One of the parents of the rescued victims, Mr Michael Olorunyomi, said that he left the church because of alleged wrong Bible teaching but his child remained there.
He said, “I attended the church before and I left because of the wrong teaching the pastors give the members. The pastors teach the church members on the need to divorce their wives while husbands are to divorce their wives if they want to go to heaven. They turned the children against their parents by teaching them what is not in the Bible.
“When I left the church, my daughter refused to follow me. I made the mistake of leaving her behind. Before I knew what was going on, my daughter who was in 300 level in the university at the time dropped out and camped in the church waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is because the pastor said that there was nothing again in the world and rapture would come in September this year. They arranged a marriage between my daughter and one of the pastors’ family members. They said nobody should go to work, no school and they must do nothing other than to wait for Christ’s coming in the church.’’
Also, a group under the auspices of Ekimogun Youths Connect said that those found in the church’s underground apartment were kept in the custody of the church for over six months.
The group in a statement issued by its president, Mr Famakinwa Lucaskakaki said that his group swung into action together with the police and the Amotekun operatives to rescue the victims.
The statement read, “About 14:00hrs of July 1, 2022, I was reliably informed that a particular church in Valentino Ondo City called ‘Ondo Church,’ locked people up in his church for over six months telling them that Jesus Christ will come and meet them by September this year.
“The National President of Great Constitutional Rights and Justice Forum in person of Comrade Omotayo Omolayo was also briefed and we mobilised to the venue and we met about 50 people locked up in the church.
“The church has rooms where the pastor locked his members. The process of rescuing these ones with the help of police officers, Amotekun, Atariajanaku and a vigilance group, caused pandemonium that the people under lock started beating us. The pastor, the church workers and the people under lock have been arrested and whisked to Akure.”
During the parade of the victims and the pastor at the command’s headquarters in Akure, the state capital on Saturday, the state police spokesperson, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, said that the command had commenced preliminary investigation into the matter.
She said, “Preliminary investigation is ongoing and further information will be communicated to the public. We urge the good people of Ondo State to be calm as the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department have taken over the case.”
The PPRO said the suspects would be charged to court after the completion of the investigation.