Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The founder of Word Assembly Ministries, Rev. Isaac Omolehin, has revealed that a security threat linked to bandits forced him, his wife and children to abandon their home and church camp in Idofian, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, and live in hiding. The cleric said the crisis began in the early hours of May 31, 2026, when police officers arrived at the camp in the middle of the night and ordered more than 100 residents to evacuate immediately following intelligence of an impending bandit attack. Omolehin, an outspoken Christian evangelist known for criticising denominational divisions within the Nigerian church, said the camp has remained completely deserted since that night, leaving vulnerable residents scattered across different locations.
The facility was not just a church camp. It housed an orphanage, primary and secondary schools, a hospital, an old people’s home, and a rehabilitation centre for mentally challenged women rescued from the streets alongside their children. More than 100 people depended on the camp for shelter, education, healthcare, and rehabilitation. All of that collapsed in a single night. “Bandits chased us out of that place. The school cannot open, the hospital is not functioning, and the patients and nurses all ran for their lives,” Omolehin said. He disclosed that although he was away when the evacuation took place, the bandits eventually came to the camp but met an empty facility. “They came, the bandits, but they didn’t meet anybody,” he recounted.
Omolehin has since gone into hiding with his wife and children, moving from one location to another because authorities have not declared the area safe for return. His account of the ordeal is stark. “I have a house I can’t enter. I have a car I can’t ride. I have to hide myself from the public. If I sleep here today, I’ll sleep somewhere else tomorrow. I’m homeless with my wife and children,” he said. The cleric said repeated appeals to the police, who ordered the evacuation, have yielded no clearance. “We wrote to the police because they were the ones who asked us to leave. We asked if it was safe for us to return because schools had resumed and we have over a hundred children that need to go to school. There has been no response,” he said. Reports were also submitted to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which supervises orphanages and rehabilitation centres, but no official response has been received.
The security crisis extended beyond Kwara. Omolehin said his ancestral village in Kogi State was attacked three days after the Kwara camp was targeted, and some members of his community were killed. “When they missed me here in Kwara, they went to my village and attacked my people,” he said. He also disclosed that while the bandits did not destroy the camp’s buildings, opportunistic thieves later broke into the deserted facility and carted away belongings, including refrigerators, fans, and mattresses. He drew a sharp distinction between the two sets of criminals. “The kidnappers did not come to steal refrigerators, fans or mattresses. They came for human beings. The people who looted our property are not the same as the kidnappers,” he said.
The cleric’s ordeal reflects a broader pattern of insecurity in Kwara State and the wider North-Central region. In May 2026, a Kwara pastor lamented that bandits were still holding his wife despite the payment of a N20 million ransom. In August 2026, bandits abducted 176 residents from Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area, and although 163 were later rescued, 13 remained unaccounted for. The attack on Omolehin’s camp is part of a sustained campaign of violence and abduction that has displaced thousands of families across the region. The cleric believes he was personally targeted. He said attacks against him have ranged from social media abuse to restrictions on his ministry, including a recent ban from preaching in Baptist churches.
Despite the threats, Omolehin remains resolute. “The attacks are still going on, but they don’t affect me. Jesus already told us that our preaching may be resisted,” he said. His primary concern, however, is the vulnerable people who depended on the camp. He appealed directly to the Federal and Kwara State Governments to strengthen security so that the displaced residents can return. “I want to appeal to the government to improve security so that I can return to the camp with my family and all the people I look after. Some of the children in the orphanage were brought to us by the government. Even if they say they don’t care about the rest of us, what about the children they entrusted to us?” he asked.
The authorities have not yet issued an official statement on the attack or on the camp’s current status. The camp remains deserted, the children remain out of school, the patients remain without care, and the cleric and his family remain in hiding. For Omolehin, the question is not just about security. It is about the government’s responsibility to the vulnerable citizens it entrusted to his care. “Even if they say they don’t care about the rest of us, what about the children they entrusted to us?” he asked. For now, the camp at Idofian stands as a monument to a promise of protection that has not been kept, and the people who once called it home are left to wonder if they will ever return.
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