The Ekimogun Youths Connect, has disclosed that scores of kids found in the underground apartment of a church in Ondo city have been kept in the custody of the church for over six months.
The children, said to be 50, were rescued on Saturday by the police and taken to headquarters of the state police command, alongside the pastor and some members of the church.
The group, in a statement issued by its president, Mr Famakinwa Lucaskakaki on Saturday said the rescue of the kids and arrest of the pastor were made possible by its combined efforts with the police and the Amotekun security outfit.
The statement read: “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 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.”