More than two months after gunmen stormed an open-air church revival and killed its pastor, the surviving worshippers taken captive that night are finally recovering, not because the Ekiti State Government paid for their release, but because their own community scraped together ₦25.5 million to do it.
That detail, confirmed by community representative and former commissioner Rufus Ajayi, sits at the center of how this abduction ended. The community borrowed the ransom money and paid it, losing one person along the way even after the money changed hands. Ajayi nonetheless backed the state government’s refusal to negotiate directly with the kidnappers, arguing that government-paid ransoms would only invite more of the same.
Governor Biodun Oyebanji visited the survivors Sunday at Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, where they remain under treatment following Saturday’s release. He described relief at finding them stable, singling out a young child who had regained consciousness. “Earlier today, I visited our resilient brothers and sisters from Eda Oniyo, currently recovering at EKSUTH. Seeing them stable, especially a young child who has now regained consciousness, brings profound relief and reinforces the sacred duty I bear to protect every life in Ekiti State,” he wrote on X. He pledged that the state would cover their full medical and psychological recovery costs, and framed the episode as a test of his administration’s broader security commitments. “Let me be clear, security is a fundamental human right, not a political tool. We will continue to collaborate with President Tinubu and our security agencies to relentlessly flush out criminal elements from our state,” he said, also crediting the Eda-Oniyo community and security operatives for the eventual release.
The attack that led here happened in April, when suspected bandits opened fire on a Christ Apostolic Church revival in Eda-Oniyo around 6:45pm on a Tuesday, killing the officiating pastor, Aregbe, and abducting an unconfirmed number of worshippers. Ilejemeje Local Government Chairman Pius Alaba said at the time that some congregants managed to escape into surrounding bush while others were shot where they stood. The pastor’s body was taken to a morgue, and outrage over the abduction built steadily in the weeks that followed, culminating in resident protests in early June when the captives were still being held.
Nearly three months on, the community’s decision to pay its own way out stands as the most consequential fact of the entire episode, one the governor’s hospital visit and promises of medical support do not erase, even as they mark a genuine end to the worshippers’ ordeal.
