Bandits who abducted about 35 worshippers from the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke-Igan, Eruku, in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, have reportedly demanded N100 million ransom per victim.
Multiple family sources and community leaders confirmed on Thursday that the kidnappers have established contact with relatives of the victims, using the phones of those abducted during the Tuesday evening attack.
Speaking to newsmen on Thursday night, the Secretary of the CAC assembly, Josiah Agbabiaka, said that some families had already been reached by the abductors.
“It is true that the bandits have started contacting family members using the victims’ phones to demand ransom.
“From what we were told, they grouped the victims. The first group of 11 people has been asked to pay N100 million each,” Agbabiaka said.
However, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, said that the command had not received any official report of ransom demand.
“We are not aware of any demand for ransom or contact made to the family members of the victims.
“Our tactical teams, alongside the military and other security agencies, are on ground and making concerted efforts to rescue the abducted victims,” she said.
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Ejire-Adeyemi added that the state Commissioner of Police, CP Adekimi Ojo, had urged community members and relatives of the abducted persons to provide timely information that could aid the operation.
“The CP assures residents that the police will continue to do everything possible to secure lives and property in Kwara State,” she added.
The attack on the Eruku church is the latest in a series of violent incidents that have rattled communities across Kwara State in recent months.
The recent incidents have heightened fears over the growing reach of banditry in Kwara, a state historically considered one of the safer in the North-Central region.