By Adenitan Akinola
Osun State police command has apprehended a middle-aged man, Adamu Saliu, and his 15-year-old son for allegedly abducting church worshipers during a night vigil in Odu area in Osun State.
The father and Son were among the other 14 suspects paraded on Tuesday at the police headquarters in Osogbo, Osun State capital.
Also, paraded were two persons simply identified as Alaba Adewole and Adebayo Adedayo who allegedly specialized in Car snatching
Parading the suspects before newsmen, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Yemisi Opalola said the suspected kidnappers were apprehended after they invaded a Pentecostal church where worshipers were holding all night vigil.
According to PPRO the hoodlums whose numbers could not be easily ascertained, stormed the church and shot sporadically to scare the worshippers away
She explained that the suspected kidnappers abducted some members of the church and allegedly sexually assaulted female members of the church in the process.
She said the police on receiving information moved to the scene and combed the bushes leading to the arrest of three suspects including a father and son.
Speaking with our correspondent, Saliu who claimed to be a farmer and Imam in Ilesha denied any involvement in the kidnapping
His words “I rear cattle and I have an apprentice and a son that assist me in my workshop. So it happens that there is a white garment church in my area that did vigil on that night and some hoodlums went there to disrupt their gathering and took some of their members to the busy.
” I was not among those hoodlums that went to the church I didn’t even know such things happen it was in the morning after observing my prayer that I saw some policemen with my apprentice and my 15 -year-old son and the police said we are involved in the crime,” he stated.
Speaking with our correspondent, Esther Ayodeji one the victims who narrated her ordeal to journalists said the hoodlums invaded the church during all-night vigil at Messiah Parish Odu, Osun State.
She said the hoodlums whose number could not be easily ascertained stormed the church and shot at the roof of the church.
She said the marauders came at midnight their mission was not steal but abduction saying all their mobile phones and other personal effects were not stolen. This she stated made her to believe that their came for a different mission.
Similarly, the alleged Car snatchers confessed to have snatched two Toyota at Ilesha from where the owners parked it around 8pm
“We are three in number that took the car and we worked together. This is the first time we are engaging in this . This situation of the country leads me to steal. My friend only gave me 100k out of the money and the act was carried out during the naira scarcity I collected 80k from PoS”.
According to the police image maker, two Toyota Corolla of 204 and 206 models were exhibits recovered from Adewole and Adedayo after their confessional statement.
She, however, appealed to church worshipers to be weary of attending an all-night vigil in some remote areas to prevent ugly occurrence just as she said all the suspects would be charged to court soon after police concludes their investigation.
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