A recent attack on a church in Kwara State left the entire community in distress after armed men stormed the building during an evening gathering. The attack resulted in multiple deaths, panic and a large number of worshippers unaccounted for.
A video posted by BBC on TikTok showed an elderly man who experienced the attack firsthand.
He recounted that several worshippers who tried to hide near the altar were discovered and forcefully chased by the gunmen.
He emphasised that the attackers arrived in large numbers, heavily armed, and carried out killings before people fled in fear. The eyewitness also explained that many worshippers were taken into the bushes and had still not been traced.
According to him, families had received no contact from those who were abducted, and there was deep worry in everyone’s hearts.
He mentioned that the ‘vigilantes’ who attempted to intervene struggled due to the tear gas released in the area, causing even more crisis as people scattered.
In his words:
“When they started shooting, everybody was running. They rushed to our security man, they shot him. They said all of us should lie down on the ground. They entered the church and began to shoot as everyone ran. People that hid at the altar, they dragged them out. They were up to 30 with guns. They killed three people and 35 people ran inside bush. We haven’t heard from them at all. They didn’t call us. We haven’t heard anything. Even police just shot teargas. We haven’t seen them. When we wanted to go home, the vigilante tried to help us but the teargas affected them. Everybody just scattered. We have buried two people. We saw many bullets on the ground.”
The assault took place at a branch of Christ Apostolic Church located in Oke Isegun within the Eruku community, a border area close to Kogi under the Ekiti local government region of Kwara State.
Worshippers were conducting their usual evening programme when sudden gunfire erupted from outside the building, immediately interrupting the service.
A livestream from the church captured the moment the sound of gunshots intensified and the congregation rushed to escape.
Watch the video below:
@bbcnewspidgin One survivor tori how bandits carri out one deadly attack for one church for di town of Eruku for Kwara State wia pipo bin gada to pray on Tuesday evening. Two pipo die for di attack and some odas injure – di attackers also kidnap several worshippers. Di attack hapun for di Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) for Oke Isegun, for Ekiti Local Government Area, Kwara State during di church evening programme. Di bandits shoot di pastor of di church bifor dem round up di worshippers at gunpoint. #kwarachurchattack #kwara #nigeria #nigeriatok #bbcnewspidgin
