ERUKU, Nigeria — One of the worshippers abducted during the attack on Christ Apostolic Church, Oke Igan, in Eruku, Kwara State, has recounted the fear and helplessness he felt while held captive in what he described as a bandit-controlled forest region.
The victim, who spoke to TVC after President Bola Tinubu announced the rescue of all 38 abducted worshippers on Sunday, November 23, 2025, said the attack happened shortly after the evening service began on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
“It was a sudden act, a terrifying act. Because that evening, after 30 minutes of the programme, we just heard gunshots,” he said.
“Even to my own perspective, I didn’t know it was gunshots. I thought it was just sparking of some wire.”
He said the armed men struck swiftly, surrounding the church before many could react.
“By the time we got up, they surrounded the whole church. Even some people there began to narrate that they were seeing drops of blood everywhere,” he said.
The captives were then forced into a forested area the abductors claimed to control, the survivor said.
“It was unimaginable because when we got there, we didn’t know that it was a dominated area,” he added.
He said the attackers openly identified themselves as bandits and boasted about their reach and knowledge of the terrain.
“They made us know that there is no one who can slip away without being caught. And with what we saw, nobody can escape,” he said.
The victim said the group appeared intimately familiar with routes linking forests across Kwara and neighbouring states.
“From that place, they have dominated. They knew all the routes surrounding all those bushes within Kwara and other cities. They knew it,” he added.
The attack — which left three people dead — drew national attention and heightened concerns over escalating banditry across the North-Central region.
It occurred just days before a mass abduction at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State, further raising alarm about coordinated kidnap-for-ransom networks.
The Kwara State Government later shut down dozens of schools in vulnerable areas as security agencies intensified operations.
