- Angered residents of Eda Oniyo in the Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the ongoing captivity of 16 local church members.
- Despite community members pooling resources together to pay a hefty N10.5 million ransom alongside requested logistics, the armed bandits reneged on the agreement and issued a fresh N50 million demand.
- The victims, who include an elderly woman over 80 years old and toddlers as young as two, have been held in dense forests without medical care or shelter for 36 days following a deadly church invasion.
A profound wave of anger and helplessness washed over the Eda Oniyo community in the Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti State on Wednesday as hundreds of residents staged a massive public protest over the continued captivity of 16 Christian worshippers.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the victims have spent 36 grueling days in hidden forest camps despite the community successfully raising and delivering an N10.5 million cash ransom to the abductors.
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Carrying highly visible placards reading, “President Tinubu, save us, we are perishing,” and “FG, Ekiti State Government, save our loved ones,” the demonstrators, comprising youths, women leaders, and relatives, openly condemned the worsening state of local security and the ultimate betrayal by the armed gang.
The traumatic saga began back on April 28, 2026, when heavily armed gunmen violently invaded a Christ Apostolic Church branch in Eda Oniyo during an evening service, fatally shooting the presiding pastor before rounding up the congregation.
Community sources revealed that the kidnappers initially demanded an astronomical N1 billion ransom, which was iteratively scaled down to N150 million, and eventually N50 million.
Desperate to save their families, local residents collectively contributed funds to meet an agreed N10.5 million threshold.
According to community representative Ayodele Oni, the couriers faced a horrifying ordeal traversing dense bush terrains across Kwara and Kogi states to drop off the cash, alongside two bags of rice, fuel, cigarettes, and other provisions explicitly requested by the bandits.
However, upon receiving the package, the criminals refused to release the captives and have since resumed phone contacts insisting on an additional N50 million payment.
The hostage profile has amplified the community’s emotional distress; the 16 abductees are predominantly women and young boys, including toddlers between the ages of two and three, alongside an elderly matriarch over 80 years old.
Protester Bose Ajayi wept openly during the briefing, describing how devastated families are suffering severe psychological trauma while young children continuously cry for their missing mothers who are being held without adequate shelter, basic hygiene, or medical attention.
In response to their systemic vulnerability, the leadership of Eda Oniyo is demanding urgent state and federal intervention to launch an immediate tactical rescue operation.
They are formally calling for a total overhaul of the region’s security architecture, including the establishment of a permanent military outpost near the porous Ekiti-Kwara border, the deployment of armed forest guards, and the immediate creation of a fully functional divisional police headquarters to prevent the area from being continuously weaponized by cross-border syndicates.
