The Police in Ogun State said they have secured the release of all five people who were kidnapped on Thursday around J3 forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of the state on the Sagamu-Ore-Benin Expressway.
The victims, said to be ministers and members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), were travelling from the Eastern part of the country to attend the Church’s ministers’ conference at the Redemption Camp, Kilometre 46, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, preparatory to the church’s Annual Holy Ghost Convention which starts on Monday.
Police spokesman Abimbola Opeyemi had earlier on Saturday disclosed that one of the victims, Mrs. Ibelegbo Chidinma had been rescued unhurt.
Later in the day, Opeyemi issued another terse statement in which he said, “The remaining four victims have been rescued unhurt by men of Ogun State Police Command.”
Oyeyemi had earlier said, “Efforts are on top gear to rescue the remaining victims, as the kidnappers who kept them in separate locations were changing their locations from time-to-time within the forest.”
The RCCG General Overseer Worldwide, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, had on Friday called for prayers following the incident.
The kidnappers ambushed the vehicle of the pastor and others who were travelling along the Sagamu-Ore-Benin Expressway and whisked them away into the bush.
Speaking on the incident on Friday, Adeboye called for prayers for the kidnapped victims to regain their freedom.
He asked the National Prayer Coordinator of the church, Pastor Peter Olawale, to lead the congregation in prayers for God to rescue the victims from the kidnappers’ den.
Olawale, who is also the Special Assistant to the GO on Prayers, thereafter led the worshippers in fervent prayers.
Last month, the daughter of Afenifere leader, Funke Olakunrin (Nee Fasoranti) was killed on that same stretch of Sagamu-Ore-Benin Expressway, but her’s fell into Ondo State.
