The leadership of So-Safe Corps, a security agency established by the Ogun State Government, on Monday apologised to the family of Late Pastor Adeniyi Adisa, who was killed when the officers engaged in a gun duel with some kidnappers on July 1, 2023, at Abule Ori community, in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state.
The agency’s Commander, Soji Ganzallo, at a press conference in Abeokuta, said Adisa was killed in error, noting that it was not intentional.
The wives of the slain pastor, Temilade and Bukola: their children, Adeyemi and Mrs Adewunmi Adelaja and among other family members were at the briefing.
Ganzallo said, “It will be recalled that on July 1, our officers, while responding to a distress call at Abule-Ori community in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state moved in and were able to rescue seven church members earlier kidnapped in a church. That same night, the Corps decided to trail the kidnappers and it was during the operation when the officers engaged in a shoot-out with the kidnappers that the unintended happened.
“It was an unfortunate, very sad situation that none of us are happy about. After this incident, So Safe issued a release to the members of the public that several kidnapped church members were rescued and one of the kidnappers was gunned down while others escaped with bullet wounds.
“We, however, later got to know in the course of our investigation that the person killed was not a kidnapper but Pastor 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 but may be the there was a delay somehow leading to this incident.
“The Ogun State Police Command has investigated this case and it has been discovered that Pastor Adeniyi Adisa was a kidnapped victim too and he was never a kidnapper. This retraction is to set the record straight and assuage the feelings of the family that their son, Pastor Adeniyi Adisa, was never a kidnapper.
“The police are also preparing a report on this sad incident that will be given to the family.”
Ganzallo also said that the So-Safe Corps is working closely with the state Commissioner of Police, 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, the Otun Parakoyi of Ibadanland, Chief Muiz Akande, said the family is happy with the amicable resolution of the sad incident.
Akande said, “It’s a painful loss but what can we do? As a reasonable family, we have found out that it was an operational error. It was not intended. We have had engagement with the police and officers of the So Safe Corps culminating in today’s press briefing.
“I am glad my brother’s name has been cleared of being a kidnapper and for the compensation for the children, I know the officers are men of integrity and they will certainly do as promised.”
Adisa of Latter Rain Revival Christian Church, Olaogun, Ibadan, Oyo State was the General Manager of VGC Water, Lekki, Lagos until he was kidnapped on June 24 while returning from a visit to a friend in the Yotomi area, Owode Egba in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Our Correspondent gathered that due to the delay in the ransom payment after the Chartered Accountant was kidnapped, his abductors took him to a bush close to a church they were going to attack.
His abductors were said to have abandoned him and went to attack the church, where they killed the pastor during a mid-year vigil before policemen and the state’s So-Safe Corps called upon by church members arrived at the scene.
Adisa was however said to have been killed when the security officers engaged the kidnappers in a shoot-out thinking that he was one of the marauders.
The So Safe Corps in a release after the incident had labeled the deceased as one of the kidnappers gunned down during the rescue operations.
But a brother to the late Pastor, Musiliu, who read the report had told The PUNCH that his brother was not a kidnapper but a kidnapped victim and that the family was about to pay his ransom when the sad incident happened.
