Eight
suspected armed robbers invaded the Mission House of the First Baptist Church,
Surulere in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Thursday.
Rev. Solomon
Gbenjo said two of the robbers entered his apartment and tied him with a rope
while one of the robbers hit him with a belt.
He added
that they later ransacked his apartment and collected money and other
valuables.
According to
the priest, before they entered his apartment, the robbers overpowered one of
the night guards, attacked him with machete and inflicted severe injuries on
his head.
Sources told
journalists that the robbers operated for about three hours without any
intervention from security agencies.
Gbenjo, who
is over 60 years old said the robbers also invaded the apartments of two other
pastors of the church, Rev. Tunde Ajayi and Rev. Biodun Olatide.
The priest
said the robbers took from his apartment one HP laptop computer, one iPad, four
handsets, N140,000 and other valuables.
He said,
“They got to our apartment around 2am. They forced the door open. My daughter’s
room was the first place they visited, my laptop was there with the receipt and
the bag.
“Somebody
was to come and collect N20,000 from her but unfortunately could not come. That
was the first money they grabbed. They also took some of her wristwatches.
“When they
had finished robbing her, they asked her to lead them to our bedroom. They asked
us to lie face down and ransacked the house. As soon as they came in, they said
they had killed one of the gate men. They threatened that if we did not
cooperate, they would kill us too.
“They hit me
with a belt. That was how the whole thing started. It caught us unaware.”
He explained
that they beat up Ajayi’s wife and later stole N102,000, laptop, a mobile
phone, bag and a flash drive from the Ajayis’ apartment.
It was
learnt that the robbers took from Olatide’s apartment, a mobile phone two
laptops, N133,000 and an undisclosed amount of loan he got from a Cooperative
Society.
Some robbers
had on the same day also invaded a Winners’ Chapel branch at Gaa Imam.
It was
learnt that robbers in the past had also stormed some nearby churches at
Oko-Erin belonging to Rev. Rahman Popoola, Christ Apostolic Church, Alabukun
belonging to Prophet Adiro and seven other churches around Eyenkorin near
Ilorin.
The Police
Public Relations Officer, Kwara State Command, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed
the attack. He stated that the police had commenced investigation into the
robbery.
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