October 31, 2023

Ogun State-owned security outfit, So-Safe Corps, has admitted killing a Pastor of Latter Rain Revival Christian Church, Adeniyi Adisa, in error during a shootout with suspected kidnappers.

The clarification is coming about three months after the ugly incident happened. The pastor was allegedly mistaken for a kidnapper when seven members of the church were abducted.

Channels Television reports that the Commander of the state security outfit, Soji Ganzallo, said, “Adisa was mistaken for one of the suspected kidnappers, who attacked a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Abule-Ori, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, where the pastor of the church was killed and seven members abducted.

Ganzallo, who stated this while addressing the family of the slain pastor in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said the preacher was killed during a rescue operation of members of the RCCG.

Ganzallo had in July told journalists that operatives of the security outfit shot dead a suspected kidnapper while rescuing members of RCCG who were kidnapped during vigil.

While apologising to the family of the slain pastor, Ganzallo described Adisa’s death as “regrettable, unfortunate and unintentional”.

The two wives of the slain pastor, Temilade Adisa and Bukola Adisa; as well as a cousin to the deceased, Muiz Akande, had approached the security operatives to seek clarification on the victim’s death.

Addressing the family of the deceased, Ganzallo said, “It will be recalled that on July 1st, our officers responding to distress call at Abule-Ori community in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state moved in and were able to rescue seven church members earlier kidnapped.

That same night, the Corps decided to trail the kidnappers and it was during the operation when the officers engaged in a shootout with the kidnappers that the unintended happened.

“It is really an unfortunate situation, a very sad one that none of us is happy about. After this incident, So Safe issued a release to the members of the public that seven kidnapped church members were rescued while one of the kidnappers was gunned down with others escaping with bullet wounds.

“We, however, later got to know in the cause of our investigation that the suspect killed was not a kidnapper but Pastor Saheeb Adeniyi Adisa of Oke Oluokun, Ibadan, Oyo State who had earlier been kidnapped by the kidnappers and probably brought along to be freed after collecting the ransom before going for their next operation.”

According to him, the Ogun State Police Command has investigated the case and it has been discovered that Adisa was a kidnap victim too and he was never a kidnapper.

Ganzallo also said that the So-Safe Corps is working closely with the Commissioner of Police, CP Alamutu Abiodun, to give some compensation to support the children of the deceased within the first week of November.

Speaking on behalf of the family during the press briefing, Akande, who led the family delegation, said that though the death of Adisa was painful, it is clear that he was never a kidnapper as initially portrayed.