Kwara Church Kidnap Survivor Recounts Harrowing Experience: ‘They boasted they were bandits; no one slips away’

A survivor of the November 18 attack on Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Eruku, Kwara State, has shared details of the ordeal he and other abducted worshippers endured while in captivity.

He was among the 38 victims rescued by security forces — an operation President Bola Tinubu confirmed on Sunday.

Speaking with TVC, the survivor explained that the attackers invaded the church shortly after the evening service commenced, firing shots across the premises before forcing the congregation into the bush.

“It was a sudden act, a terrifying act. Because that evening, after 30 minutes of the programme, we just heard gunshots,” he said.

“Even to my own perspective, I didn’t know it was gunshots. I thought it was just sparking of some wire.

“By the time we got up, they surrounded the whole church. Even some people there began to narrate that they were seeing drops of blood everywhere.”

He said the group transported the captives deep into a forested zone under their control. According to him, the abductors openly identified themselves as bandits and bragged about their dominance in the area, insisting that “no one can slip away” from their territory.

“It was unimaginable because when we got there, we didn’t know that it was a dominated area.

“They even had the courage to tell themselves that they are bandits. They made us know that there is no one who can slip away without being caught. And with what we saw, nobody can escape,” he said.

“From that place, they have dominated. They knew all the routes surrounding all those bushes within Kwara and other cities. They knew it,” he added.

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