How Ondo Pastor Kidnapped 77 Church Members, Kept Them In Underground For Rapture

The Ondo State Police Command has rescued 77 people found locked in the basement of a church; Whole Bible Deliverance Church located at Valentino Area of Ondo town, Ondo State.

According to reports, the victims were allegedly hypnotised by their pastors.

The police said that the victims comprised 23 kids and 54 others including teenagers and adults, males and females.

It gathered that the pastors informed the worshippers to consecrate themselves by abandoning whatever they were doing and camp in the church for a seven-day programme ahead of the coming of Jesus Christ in two months.

Consequently, school children, workers and their spouses abandoned schools and offices to consecrate themselves for the coming of Jesus Christ. It was gathered that some members who did not believe the prophecy of the pastors and were irked by the development reported the development to the state police command.

Detectives invaded the church and met the worshippers kept in an underground apartment and rescued them.

One of the parents, Mrs Jessica  Akintemi, whose two girls and their father,Oluwarotimi, had moved to the church ‘to meet Jesus Christ’ said that her two girls had abandoned school since January because the pastors hypnotised them.

One of the parents of the rescued victims, Mr Michael Olorunyomi, said that he left the church because of alleged wrong Bible teaching but his child remained there.

He said, “I attended the church before and I left because of the wrong teaching the pastors give the members. The pastors teach the church members about the need to divorce their wives if they want to go to heaven. They turned the children against their parents by teaching them what is not in the Bible.

“When I left the church, my daughter refused to follow me. I made the mistake of leaving her behind. Before I knew what was going on, my daughter who was in 300 level in the university at the time dropped out and camped in the church waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is because the pastor said that there was nothing again in the world and rapture would come in September this year. They arranged a marriage between my daughter and one of the pastors’ family members. They said nobody should go to work, no school and they must do nothing other than to wait for Christ’s coming in the church.’’

One of the victims, a third year student of Millennium College of Health, Priscilla Olorunyomi, aged 22, said she abandoned school notwithstanding that her parents told her not to attend church again.

“ I was born in that church. My parents left but I remained in the church because I am blessed by the teaching”, Olorunyomi said.

“ I am obeying the scripture which says I should only obey my parents in the Lord, that is why I remained in the church.

“ My parents stopped paying my school fees when I left home in January and still attend the church. The pastors in the church have been feeding and paying my school fees until when I deferred my admission”.

In an interview, the pastors, Anifowose and Josiah, denied the allegation of hypnotising their members’ saying they only preached undiluted words of God to them.

“ We did not tell them to abandon their homes, they came on their own volition and they were accepted”, Anifowose said.

“It’s a lie that we said that Jesus is coming in September because nobody knows the time of His coming”.

Parading the victims and pastors, the police spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami, said detectives received several complaints about the activities of the pastors and swung into action.

She added that they were lured and harboured under the pretence of religion.