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“It was just a sudden and terrifying act,” said Bamidele Emmanuel, one of the abducted worshippers of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Oke Isegun, Eruku, as he recounted the moment armed bandits stormed their church last Tuesday.

Speaking from at the Government House Clinic in Ilorin, Emmanuel described how the attack unfolded barely 30 minutes before the evening programme was set to begin.

“We suddenly heard gunshots. At first, I didn’t even know it was gunshots, I thought it was some wire sparking,” he told The ICIR. “But before we realised what was happening, they had already surrounded the whole church. Some people began to run, and we saw drops of blood everywhere.”

Emmanuel said the days that followed in captivity were “unimaginable”.

“When we got into the bush, we understood immediately that the whole place was dominated by these evil people called bandits. They told us themselves that they were bandits. They made it clear that no one could escape. From what we saw, they knew every route around those bushes within Kwara and neighbouring [communities.]”

“What we went through is not something anyone should experience,” Emmanuel added, describing the physical and psychological abuse they endured.