Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in the early hours of Sunday, invaded a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Ogun State, killed the pastor and abducted some worshippers from the scene.
The incident occurred at the Abule-Ori branch of the church in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state around midnight on Saturday while the church was observing a vigil service.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the worshipers had initially attempted to resist the intruders, who banged into their midst but were overpowered.
One of the worshipers, who escaped the kidnapping incident, told LEADERSHIP that the kidnappers shot directly at the pastor for daring to confront the attackers during the kidnapping incident which lasted over 30 minutes without the police response.
While the incident was ongoing however, some of the worshipers made distress calls to operatives of the Owode-Egba Zonal Command of the Ogun State Community, Social Orientation and Safety Corps, code-named “So-SAFE Corp”, who thereafter, raced to the scene and allegedly engaged the attackers in a gun duel.
At the end of the encounter, one of the kidnappers was killed, while others, who had earlier abducted seven among the worshipers, also escaped with varying degrees of bullet wounds.
A statement issued by the Director of Information and Public Relations of the
So-SAFE Corps, Moruf Yusuf also confirmed that operatives of the Corp eventually succeeded at rescuing unhurt, the seven worshipers earlier abducted from the church.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Omotola Odutola refused to comment on the incident but promised that her command will respond at the “appropriate time”.
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