State, Pastor Olusegun Omoniyi, is critically ill after he was allegedly
abducted and tortured by some members of the Oodua People’s Congress.
he was rescued by policemen from the Sango Area Command.He said he
feared for his life as the OPC members had threatened to recapture and
kill him.
of some relatives of Omoniyi’s late wife, Omolade, who had vowed to deal
with him over the sickness and subsequent death of the woman.Omoniyi
and his wife married in 1999 and had a set of twins in 2000.
been able to have any child, which resulted in pressures from Omolade’s
family.
“She had told me that her family members didn’t want her to continue
living with me, but I begged her to stay.“However, sometime in 2015, I
went for a church meeting when some of her family members came. They
took away her property. Attempts at getting her family members to
reconcile us were abortive as they said she had made her choice.
“However,
in July 2015, I was told she was sick. On the instruction of the church
leadership, I went with some other elders to give her N50,000. But her
brother did not allow us to see her, saying I should go alone to see
her. We refused.
“On February 6, 2016, while I was leading a church programme around
10am, four men entered the church. Two of them were OPC members and the
others – Adebayo and Stephen – were my wife’s relatives. While I was on
the altar, the two OPC members said they had come to take me away.
“I
told them that I would not follow them since I did not know where they
were taking me to. They beat me up and one of them showed me a gun and
said if I didn’t cooperate, he would kill me.”
brother, adding that he was blindfolded throughout the journey.
the OPC, saying the men tortured him before taking him inside a clinic
where his wife had been admitted.
“In one of the rooms, I saw my wife on the bed. Her legs were swollen
and there was blood all over the place. I asked her why she left the
house and what I did wrong
“While talking to her, my in-laws started
beating me. I have never suffered such torture. I told my wife right
there that God would judge our matter,” he added.
church leader informing him of his location, adding that the latter
informed the police who stormed the area and rescued him.It was learnt
that Omolade died the following day.
insisting that Omoniyi must take his wife’s corpse with him.
“To appease them, I told them to find where they would bury her and I would bear part of the cost, but they refused.
“As
I was leaving, they blocked the road and said they would burn the two
vehicles we took there. The OPC members, who had earlier abducted me,
came and dragged me to where the corpse was.
“After beating me again,
they put me on the corpse and said I must die with her. They put me in a
car with the corpse. I couldn’t recognise anybody until I saw some
policemen who rescued me the second time,” he said.
location was not disclosed to protect his life.He alleged that a top
police officer was also backing his in-laws, saying he had gone into
hiding for security reasons.
and the church had not been able to resolve the case as Omolade’s
eldest brother was a top pastor in the church.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Ogun State Commissioner
of Police, Area Commander, Sango-Ota, Officer-in-charge, Special
Anti-Robbery Squad, Abeokuta, among others.
case had become critical, appealing to Nigerians to rescue Omoniyi.