Kwara church kidnap survivor narrates ordeal

A member of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) from Eruku, Kwara State, who was recently freed from captivity, has recounted the harrowing experience he and others endured while held by terrorists in a remote forest.

Speaking about the ordeal, the survivor revealed that the abductors made it clear from the onset that escape was impossible due to their strong control of the area.

Narrating how it all started, the survivor said: “It was a sudden act, a terrifying act. Because that evening, after 30 minutes of the programme, we just heard gunshots.”

“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.”

Speaking further, he said: “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 us 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. They knew all the routes surrounding all those bushes within Kwara and other cities. They knew it.”

The freed victim described the forest as heavily monitored, with the terrorists boasting about their grip on the terrain and their ability to detect any movement across the surrounding bushes.

He said they (captives) were constantly guarded, leaving them in fear and uncertainty throughout their stay in the camp.

A total of 38 victims were abducted from the Eruku CAC on Tuesday, November 18, and were released on Sunday, November 23, 2025, amid rising kidnap rates across the nation.

The survivor’s account highlights how bold terrorists have become and calls for urgent and serious actions by the Bola Tinubu-led government.