Following a midnight evacuation triggered by imminent bandit attacks, founder of Word Assembly Ministries in Kwara State, Evangelist Isaac Omolehin, has appealed to both the Federal and Kwara State governments to urgently deploy adequate security to his camp so that over 100 vulnerable, displaced residents can safely return.

Omolehin, an outspoken Christian evangelist known for criticising denominational divisions and advocating for non-denominational leadership in the Nigerian Church, revealed that the camp has remained completely deserted since May 31, 2026, when police officers rushed to the facility in the middle of the night to warn of an impending kidnapper raid.

A statement issued on Friday by his spokesperson, Grace Edema, detailed the harrowing account. Police ordered an immediate evacuation of all occupants shortly before midnight. Although Omolehin was away at the time, bandits did arrive at the camp shortly after the panic-driven evacuation, only to find the facility empty.

Since that night, Omolehin, his wife, and his children have been forced into hiding, constantly moving between locations to avoid target attacks.

“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,” Omolehin lamented.

The forced closure has dealt a devastating blow to the vulnerable populations supported by the ministry. Prior to the raid, the camp housed orphaned children and staff, and operated a primary school, a secondary school, a hospital, an old people’s home, and a rehabilitation centre for women with mental health challenges 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, noting that more than 100 residents remain scattered across various locations because security agencies have not declared the area safe.

Despite writing to the police, submitting reports to the Department of State Services (DSS), and contacting the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare, which oversees orphanages and rehab centres, he said he has received no official clearance or response regarding when it will be safe to resume operations.

The cleric believes the threats is part of a wider campaign against him. Omolehin disclosed that just three days after the Kwara camp was targeted, armed men attacked his ancestral village in Kogi State, killing several people. He believes the attackers turned on his village after failing to find him at the ministry’s facility.

While the primary threat remains violent kidnapping, opportunistic local thieves have taken advantage of the deserted property to loot electronics, fans, and mattresses, taking heavy toll on the facility’s intact physical structures.

Despite ongoing social media abuse, administrative restrictions on his ministry, and physical danger, Omolehin remains resolute, noting that “Jesus already told us that our preaching may be resisted.”

In a direct plea to government authorities, Omolehin highlighted that many of the orphans in his care were originally placed there by state agencies themselves.

“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,” he urged. “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?”