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Elizabeth Chukwuma
When information filtered out that five Pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG, from Abia state heading to the Camp for this year’s Convention had been abducted and taken to an undisclosed destination between Ondo and Ogun states, Enoch Adejare Adeboye a Pastor and the General Overseer of the Pentecostal Church had accepted it with Philosophical calmness. His optimism was based based on the fact that Almighty God would fight the battle for them to facilitate their release to be at the Camp to participate in all the Church activities.
He was said to have burst in Prayers while messages were sent out to the various RCCG Parishes across the country to intensify their Prayers that could set confusion among the Kidnappers and give Mohammed Adamu the Inspector General of Police and his Crack Team of Investigators to rescue the Pastors before the Convention properly kick-start on Monday, August, 5, 2019.
True to the Church members Prayer, Adamu and his men moved into action. Less than five days of the abduction of the Pastors by the Criminal elements who could not stand the Spiritual battle, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun state Police Command Spokesperson confirmed that the that the Command havs rescued Ibegbo Chidinma, a Deconness and the last of the abducted Pastors.
An elated Oyeyemi disclosed that the Pastors were rescued unhurt from their Captors by the Operatives of the Command without any loss of life. Given an insider information about the rescued RCCG Pastors, Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP and the Force Public Relations Officer said the tactical and operational assets of the police were fully deployed for the operation. The Force Headquarters was said to have provided the helicopter that was used to carry out an aerial survey of the bush used as hideout to keep the Pastors to start negotiation with their families and the Church. Unknown to them the Ogun state Police Command Operatives have closed in on them.
Given the support of the IGP, to the Ogun state Police Command to facilitate the rescue of the Pastors, Bashir Makama, the state Commissioner of Police who was determined to rescue the Pastors unhurt was said to have volunteered to lead the operation because of the Presidency and the IGP INTerest on the matter to avoid any excuse of failure.
Insiders said the abduction of the Pastors was an embarrassment to the Police boss who was also being confronted with the search for the killers of Paul Offu, a Catholic Priest in-charge of St. James the Greater Parish Church , Ugbawka , Enugu,south east Nigeria .
Note that the Ogun state CP, may have played the lead role to rescue the five RCCG Pastors abducted along Ogbere axis of lagos/ Beni Expressway to avoid playing into the hand of the IGP, who was not ready to take any excuse for failure. This is because the pressure on him from several quarters including the Presidency. The Ogun state CP led Police rescue team into the Oghere forest between Ondo and Ogun state may have excised utmost caution in the search for the Pastors abductors to avoid putting their life in danger which may not speak well of his actions.
Indeed, the rescue of the RCCG Pastors, according to security sources, has boosted the records of the Ogun state Police boss. Many believe that the rescue of Pastors was clear indication that the Adamu led Nigerian Police could fish out the criminals in any part of the country when they really want to do their work as trained detectives .
Meanwhile, the RCCG Camp, along KM 48, of the Lagos –Ibadan expressway and the Parishes across the country have been thrown into Jubilation and appreciation to Almighty God for using the services of the Police under the close watch of Adamu, the IGP, to bring joy into heart of RCCG Worshippers.. The rescue of the RCCG Pastors from the hand of their abductors in the thick Ogbere forest was an indication that there is no hiding place any longer for suspected Kidnappers and killers in the south west.
The Police may have also sent a message to the Ugbawka Catholic Priest killers that their days of hiding are numbered. As a prelude to fishing out the Catholic Priest killers, the IGP, according to Mba, the Force Spokesperson, has deployed crack detectives from the Intelligence Response Unit, IRT, the Forensic and Homicide sections of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID to Enugu state to Compliment the efforts of the state Police Command Operatives.
President Muhammadu Buhari wo is embittered by the killing of the Clergy man was said to have given a matching order to the IGP, to fish out the yet to be identified killers to avoid a complete breakdown of Law and Order in the state.
Signs that the state is sitting on keg of gunpowder has emerged with the protest by the Catholic Priests in the state last Friday. The Catholic Priest protesters were said to have matched to the office of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the state governor, to lodge their Complaints about the security lapses in the state and the need to fish out the killers
.Angered by the activities of kidnappers in different parts of the country , particular, the killing of the Catholic Priest, the Katsina born Nigeria President , has urged the police and the other security agencies including the military to ’’ step up the fight against lawlessness in the country’’ . He lamented that the’’ nation is shaken by the horrible assassination of the Catholic Priest’’.
Offu, tthe Ugbawka Priest who was said to have been killed on Thursday, August 1st, 2019 along the Agbudu Road in Agwu Local government Area of Area of the Enugu state, south east Nigeria was heading home after conducting evening Mass. The Catholic Diocese of Enugu, who confirmed it described the Fulani Herdsmen along the Agbudu Road as ‘’notorious and murderous’.
Recall that last month suspected Fulani Herdsmen in a kidnap attempt along the Ondo -Ore Road had killed Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, the Afenifere, a Yoruba Socio-Cultural organisation leader. Femi Joseph, Ondo state police Command Spokesperson, reportedly said that the attack occurred between Kojola and Ore, along the Ondo- – Ore Road.
It took the intervention of Rotimi Akereolu, the state governor and Undie Adie, the state Commissioner of Police including the respected Paramount Rulers in the south west and other well- meaning Nigerians to calm the situation as the people were poised for reprisal attack.
The Katsina state born Nigerian President may have known that the country is sitting on a keg of gun powder because of the frequent kidnap attempts and killing in the south east and south west which had been linked to Fulani Herdsmen that he had requested religious leaders across the country to pray for the peace and security o this nation , insisting that the ‘’Administration will continue to guarantee the freedom of religion’’ .
Also in the search for lasting peace in the country and in order to cut the wings of the Fulani Herdsmen to size, Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President who could no longer sit-by and watch the country collapse like a pack of card , was said to have taken it upon himself to meet the leaders of the Fulani ethnic ethnic group living in the south west. The meeting, according to sources , became necessary because the Herders had been accused of causing the mounting security problem in the country, particular south west.
Saleh Bayari, the Chairman of Gan Allah Fulani Association was said to have led the Fulani group to the meeting. Eye witness account said there was no hold bar discussion at the meeting as the former President had pleaded with Bayari and his team ‘’ not to leave anything under the carpet’’ The tight security along the Lagos- Benin and Lagos –Ibadan Express way in the recent time speaks volume.
It is not surprising why security is very tight at the RCCG, Convention ground to assure the Worshippers that there was no cause for alarm. The value News cited some plain cloth Security Operatives and other security personnel at the Camp on Saturday, August 3, 2019, preparatory for the one weeklong Conventions which begins on Monday, August 5, 2019.
Worried by what it described as bad governance in the country , Omoyele Sowore, was said to have played into the hand of Adamu, the IGP, because of his plan to organize a mass protest in the country which could have started on Monday, August 5 but he was arrested by a police crack tem on Saturday, August 3, 2019, to forestall him from carrying out his plan. Mba, a Lawyer and the Force Spokesperson said the activist was arrested because of a reported viral video by the Global Coalition for Security and Democracy in Nigeria and others.
Going by the video clip, the Force Image maker had said that the group had called on Nigerians both within and outside the country to join a ‘’planned revolution march against the government on Monday. According to him, the planned protest was planned with the sole aim of forcing a regime change in the country. An aggrieved Police Spokesperson noted that the call ‘’amounts to treasonable felony and terrorism’’. He may have spoken the mind of the IGP, when he said the police will not sit-by and watch any individual or group in the society embark on protest that could lead to a forceful change of the government.
Appealing to the organisers, sponsors and international allies of the planned protest to steer clear of such action, warning that the police would not hesitate to match them with equal force. This is indication that Sowore and his chorts are in for tough time ahead.
very informative
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