By Ade Oyeyemi
The founder of Word Assembly Ministries, Ilorin, Kwara State, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, says a security threat linked to bandits has forced him, his family and more than 100 other residents to abandon the church’s camp in Idofian, Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state.
Omolehin said the police ordered the evacuation of the facility after receiving information about a planned attack by suspected kidnappers.
The cleric made the disclosure in a statement issued on Saturday by his spokesperson, Grace Edema, explaining that the evacuation took place around midnight between May 30 and 31.
According to him, security operatives arrived at the camp and directed everyone to leave immediately for their safety.
“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 added that the suspected bandits later visited the facility but left after finding that the camp had been evacuated.
The cleric said the incident had disrupted the lives of residents and forced him to move between different locations with his wife and children.
“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 stated.
Omolehin said the camp provides accommodation and services for vulnerable people, including orphaned children, and operates a primary school, secondary school, hospital, old people’s home and rehabilitation centre for women rescued from the streets.
He lamented that the security situation had brought activities at the facility to a standstill, with students, patients, nurses and other residents forced to leave.
“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.
The cleric said more than 100 people who previously lived at the camp had been dispersed to different locations because the authorities had yet to confirm that the area was safe for their return.
He said he had written to the police seeking clearance to return, particularly because schools had resumed and more than 100 children under the facility’s care needed to return to classes.
Omolehin added that reports had also been submitted to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which oversees orphanages and rehabilitation facilities, but that he had yet to receive a response.
The cleric further alleged that his home community in Kogi State was attacked days after the incident in Kwara, claiming that people in the community were killed after the attackers failed to find him at the camp.
He said the camp itself was not destroyed by the suspected kidnappers but alleged that thieves subsequently broke into the abandoned facility and stole items belonging to the residents.
Omolehin appealed to the Federal and Kwara State governments to improve security around the camp to allow him, his family and the displaced residents to return.
“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,” he said, stressing that some of the children at the orphanage had been referred there by government authorities.
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Kwara State Police Command were unsuccessful, as its spokesperson, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, reportedly did not respond to calls and messages seeking clarification on the reported threat and evacuation.
