Oluwaseyifunmi Oladapo, the shepherd of a Celestial Church parish in the Mowe area of Ogun State, has shared with FIJ details of his Maundy Thursday abduction and subsequent escape from armed abductors.
The kidnappers took Oladapo from the pulpit in Jehovah Shalom Parish and dragged Abiola Oluboboye, his assistant, away with them.
FIJ had reported Oladapo’s escape against police lies that he was rescued in March. He narrated an escape that he described to FIJ as miraculous on Saturday.
“They were about seven, those who came to kidnap me. I was preaching on the pulpit when the armed men entered the church that night. Four of them came into the church with three guns, blocking all three entrances. The first thing they asked for was my iPhone, even though the phone wasn’t with me at the time,” Oladapo said.
“My phone [an iPhone 14] was in my house, which I had locked up before going to church that evening. We could not get the keys on time, and the kidnappers took me and Oluboboye with them.
They threatened to shoot a church worker but did not harm anyone. Instead, they shot the roof of the church from the inside and the outside. They shot at something they thought was a CCTV camera.
“The kidnappers took us through a bushy area close to the church and we had to walk in the bush. They spoke Yoruba, Pidgin English and their own language.
I could tell that they were Fulani when they spoke their language. They spoke the Fulani Language to one another. Two of the seven armed men withdrew from the pack, leaving only five armed men escorting me and Oluboboye in the bush.
“They attacked the church around 7:30 pm. Before they went into the bush, the kidnappers pulled the shoes they wore and put on bathroom slippers.
The armed men made us walk between them. Three with guns walked ahead of us, while two with cutlasses stayed behind us. They stopped after we had trekked a reasonable distance in the bush and told me they wanted N50 million.
“I told them that I didn’t have N50 million or N30 million. They had the barrels of their guns on my neck as we negotiated. I told them that I could manage N10 million just because I wanted to stay alive. They agreed and asked us to pay an extra N5 million for Oluboboye.
I begged them that we didn’t have money and, when they said that they would shoot him right there, I told them that Oluboboye had no father or mother. We eventually settled for N13 million in ransom.
“It was God who saved me. We approached a road after walking in the bush for some time. There was a beer parlour by the side of the same road. Music came from the beer parlour, and I knew that people were there past midnight.
“As soon as the kidnappers realised that there might be people who could challenge them, they hurriedly got us back into the bush. At this point, the kidnappers did not know which path to take in the bush.
They were unfamiliar with the terrain, and I got separated from them at that point. God saved me from their clutches. I cannot explain how exactly, but it was miraculous. I was with the kidnappers till 2 am.
“I found my way back to the main road. People refused to open their doors to me; they thought I was a robber. A fourth resident heard my pleas, and I explained to them that I was kidnapped. They told me that I was in Ofada. I did not know the place, and I wasn’t familiar with the town.
All I knew was that there was a parish whose shepherd I knew of. Some residents escorted me to the town’s chief’s premises. A shepherd from a parish in the town came there to take me.
“When we returned from the town’s chief’s residence, we saw the bush path from where I had escaped. There were no security operatives present or close by, so we couldn’t immediately follow the trail to track the kidnappers. I spent the night with the shepherd in Ofada.
We called my phone and I spoke with those at home. The kidnappers called us to ask for the ransom, using Oluboboye’s phone that week. They suddenly stopped calling.
“The last time we could reach them on the phone was last Saturday. The police contacted us and promised to help with Oluboboye’s recovery. We are just praying and hoping to hear from him. His family just needs to know that he is alright.”