Bandits who shattered the quiet sanctity of the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, have issued a staggering ransom demand: ₦100 million for each of the 30 to 35 worshippers they dragged into the night. Their assault, carried out during Tuesday’s service, left three people dead and a community trembling beneath the weight of its grief.
Families say the abductors have begun making calls in clusters, their voices cold, their demands unmoving. They insist on the full sum per captive, tightening fear’s grip on a town already bruised by the brutality of the raid. Witnesses recount how the attackers held the church hostage for hours, herding worshippers into the forest as prayers dissolved into panic.
The pastor, still shaken, described the invasion as a moment when the sacred and the violent collided. Across Eruku and neighbouring communities, anxiety now hangs like harmattan dust—thick, stubborn, and choking. Outraged youths have blocked the Ilorin–Kabba highway, urging the government to rise swiftly to the moment.
Security agencies are combing the forests straddling Kwara and Kogi, while the state government has sought expanded federal backing, hoping to break the silence of the wilderness where its people are held.
