Bible-carrying gunmen kidnap RCCG pastor
Pastor Bajomo of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) was reportedly abducted on Sunday.
Bajomo, who pastors a branch of the church at Santos Bus Stop in Ikorodu area of Lagos, was kidnapped around 7am on Sunday.
The kidnapping happened while the man of God was preparing for the pre-service worker’s meeting.
“The pastor came earlier around 7am to prepare for a workers’ meeting,” a church member told Punch.
“The shocking thing was that the men walked in quietly like new members. They dressed like people who had come to church. They had Bibles with them. They did not shoot or display any weapon. It was when they got to the pastor that they brought out their guns and ordered him to come with them.
“The pastor got to the church before anyone else and only three members had arrived before the abduction.
“We discovered after they had left that they were Ijaw militants. They have taken away our pastor. Some members, after the incident, went to the pastor’s house to inform his family members.
“It is a sad occurrence in our area that residents are being abducted, raped, assaulted and even killed every day. It is a problem that has been left to become a calamity.
“I think the state government and the police really need to do something about these recurring incidents. We are at the mercy of the Ijaw boys.”
The matter has been reported at Owutu Police Station in Ikorodu but Lagos police command spokesperson Dolapo Badmus is yet to comment on the kidnapping.
RCCG spokesperson Pastor Segun Adegbiji said the church was fed up with attacks on its pastors.
He was quoted to have said: “RCCG will not take abduction or murder of our pastors and members any more. We like to warn murderers and abductors that God will show up with anger and fire. He will consume them speedily.”
The reported abduction came a day after the burial of Eunice Olawale Elisha, an RCCG preacher killed by alleged religious extremists in Abuja.
The kidnapping is, however, more connected to the activities of militant crude oil thieves in Ikorodu than it is to Eunice’s suspected murder.
The abduction also means another Lagos resident has fallen prey to kidnappers as Lagosians complain the state is becoming unsafe..
