A pastor and some church members have been arrested after 50 people mostly children were found locked up in a church basement in the Valentino Area of Ondo town, Ondo State.
The children were rescued on Friday night, July 1.
A video shared online shows the children in a police van before they were taken to the police station.
There was speculation that the victims of a kidnap syndicate. However, those involved in the rescue of the children said the church locked them up in preparation for the second coming of Jesus in September of this year.
A group, Ekimogun Youths Connect, in a statement issued by its president, Mr Famakinwa Lucaskakaki, said it worked together with the police and the Amotekun officers to rescue the victims.
The statement reads: “About 14:00hrs of yesterday, Friday 1st of July, 2022, I was reliably informed that a particular Church in Valentino, Ondo City, called ‘Ondo Church’, locked people up in the church for over six months, telling them that Jesus Christ will come and meet them by September this year.
“The National President of the Great Constitutional Rights and Justice Forum, in the person of Comrade Omotayo Omolayo, was also briefed and we mobilised down to the venue and we met about 50 people locked up in the church.
“The church has rooms where the pastor locked his members. The process of rescuing these ones with the help of Police officers, Amotekun, Atariajanaku and vigilante group, caused a lot of pandemonium that the people under lock started beating us.
“The pastor, the church workers and the people under lock have been arrested and whisked to Akure.”
