Adedayo Adejobi
Founder of Word Assembly Ministries, Ilorin, Evangelist Isaac Omolehin, has said he and more than 100 vulnerable residents of his camp in Kwara State, have remained homeless since bandit threats forced a midnight evacuation of the facility in May, 2026.
Omolehin, an outspoken Christian evangelist known for his criticism of denominational divisions within the Nigerian church and his calls for a non-denominational Christian leadership, said the camp has remained deserted after police warned that kidnappers were on their way to attack the facility.
According to him, the police arrived at the camp on the midnight of May 30 into May 31 and ordered an immediate evacuation.
“The police came to my camp in the middle of the night and asked everybody to run because kidnappers were coming to attack me. The whole camp was deserted, and it has remained deserted,” he said.
He disclosed that although he was away when the evacuation took place, the kidnappers eventually came to the camp but met an empty facility.
“They came, the bandits, but they didn’t meet anybody.”
The evangelist said he has since gone into hiding and can no longer return to his home or move freely in public.
“I have a house I can’t enter. I have a car I can’t ride. I have to hide myself from the public. If I sleep here today, I’ll sleep somewhere else tomorrow. I’m homeless with my wife and children.”
He described the humanitarian impact of the displacement, saying the abandoned camp catered for orphaned children, staff, a primary school, a secondary school, a hospital, an old people’s home and a rehabilitation centre for mentally challenged women rescued from the streets alongside their children.
“Bandits chased us out of that place. The school cannot open, the hospital is not functioning, and the patients and nurses all ran for their lives.”
Omolehin said more than 100 residents of the camp are now scattered across different locations because authorities have yet to declare the area safe for their return.
He said repeated appeals to the police yielded no clearance.
“We wrote to the police because they were the ones who asked us to leave. We asked if it was safe for us to return because schools had resumed and we have over a hundred children that need to go to school. There has been no response.”
He added that reports were also submitted to the Department of State Services and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which supervises orphanages and rehabilitation centres, but he said no official response had been received.
“Three days after the attack on my camp here in Kwara, my village in Kogi State was also attacked, and my people were killed. When they missed me here in Kwara, they went to my village and attacked my people.
“The kidnappers did not destroy our buildings; the structures in the camp are still intact. However, a few days after we evacuated, thieves began breaking into the camp and carting away our belongings.
“Those were different criminals. The kidnappers did not come to steal refrigerators, fans or mattresses. They came for human beings. The people who looted our property are not the same as the kidnappers.”
Reflecting on his continued public advocacy despite criticism, Omolehin said attacks against him have ranged from social media abuse to restrictions on his ministry.
“The attacks are still going on, but they don’t affect me. Jesus already told us that our preaching may be resisted.”
He revealed that he was recently barred from preaching in Baptist churches, saying, “Baptists banned me from preaching in Baptist churches just about a month ago.”
Omolehin appealed to the federal and Kwara State governments to strengthen security around the camp to enable displaced residents to return, noting that some of the orphaned children in his care were referred to the facility by government authorities.
“I want to appeal to the government to improve security so that I can return to the camp with my family and all the people I look after. Some of the children in the orphanage were brought to us by the government. Even if they say they don’t care about the rest of us, what about the children they entrusted to us?” he said.