Bandits, Kidnappers Activities In Nigeria: Where Are Adeboye, Oyedepo, Kumuyi, Olukoya, Wale Oke, Others

By Joseph Sunday

For months, the headlines have been relentless: pastors abducted mid-service in Kogi, worshippers kidnapped during vigils in Ekiti, a Living Faith Church pastor seized on his farm in Okoro Gbede, and gunmen storming churches in Plateau and Kwara States. 

As bandits and kidnappers turn pulpits into crime scenes and schools into ransom sites, a question now echoes across social media feeds and market squares alike: Where are the fathers of faith?  

The question isn’t rhetorical. It’s being asked by Nigerians like singer Spyro, whose viral videos in May 2026 called out Pastor E.A. Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, Dr. D.K. Olukoya, Bishop Wale Oke, and others by name. “People are dying. Children are being beheaded and kidnapped,” Spyro said, likening today’s silence to biblical prophets who confronted Pharaoh. “Why are our men of God not speaking out like Moses or Elijah?”  

The Voices That Have Spoken:

Not all have been silent. Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church Worldwide has twice declared what he called “divine judgment” on bandits. In April 2026, during a “Covenant Day of Vengeance” service in Ota, Ogun State, he proclaimed: “Except I am not sent, in the next seven days, I declare judgment upon those responsible for these disasters and their sponsors”. 

It wasn’t the first time. In June 2015, after a Winners’ Chapel pastor was kidnapped in Calabar, Oyedepo publicly cursed the kidnappers on the phone: “I curse you in the name of Jesus and anyone who pays ransom to you is cursed”.  

Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God has also taken a prayer-war stance. 

At a May Holy Ghost Service, he led the congregation in prayers against kidnappers and killer herdsmen: “Father, anyone planning to shed innocent blood, send down your fire to consume them all… Enough is enough”. 

More recently, his son, Pastor Leke Adeboye, was seen leading “fervent prayer for the release of children and teachers abducted in Oyo State,” asking God to “create confusion among the kidnappers”.  

The Silence That Echoes:

Yet for many Nigerians, prayers and prophetic declarations aren’t enough. Daniel Regha, a social commentator, catalogued attacks that occurred within 48 hours of Oyedepo’s April 2026 “seven-day” declaration: an orphanage raid, bandit assaults in Kogi, militant attacks in the Northeast killing 29, and the murder of a pastor and family in Plateau. “So what happened to his declaration, and divine retribution? It didn’t work,” Regha wrote.  

The criticism has grown sharper online. Posts from Instagram and Facebook in late May 2026 accuse Adeboye, Oyedepo, Kumuyi, Pastor Bolaji, Jerry Eze, and others of “silence while schoolchildren are abducted”. 

Comment sections brim with anger: “They are silent while children are being kidnapped and beheaded”, and “Pastors dey cash out”. Others argue the burden lies with government, not pulpits: “Declarations alone don’t stop crime. What we need alongside prayers is real security action”.  

A Divided Church, A Fractured Expectation:

Rev. Isaac Omolehin has even questioned whether Oyedepo, Adeboye, and Kumuyi should be called “fathers of Christianity in Nigeria,” arguing they “have not been vocal about the crisis facing Christians in Northern Nigeria”. 

Meanwhile, a 2025 Facebook video accused Adeboye, Kumuyi, and “Oyedapo” of complicity for not condemning kidnappings in Ogun State, where RCCG and Deeper Life headquarters sit.  

Not everyone agrees with the call-outs. Some defenders note that several of these leaders have spoken before, or that their role is spiritual, not political. 

Others point to the risks: churches themselves are now targets, with Living Faith pastors kidnapped in Kogi and ECWA leaders abducted in Plateau.  

Beyond the Pulpit: What Next?:

The debate reveals a deeper tension in Nigeria’s social contract: When the state struggles to protect citizens, the public turns to its most trusted institutions—churches with millions of followers and vast resources. 

The demand isn’t just for prayer, but for protest, advocacy, and physical intervention. As one commenter put it: “If they unite, the government will finally respond to insecurity”.

For now, the bandits still strike. In Ekiti, gunmen demanded N1 billion for 15 kidnapped vigil attendees after killing a pastor on May 1, 2026. In Kogi, worshippers were forced to flee into bushes as armed men stormed a Cherubim and Seraphim service.  

The question Spyro and others ask remains unanswered in the streets: Will Nigeria’s most influential pastors move from altar to arena? 

Will prophetic declarations become public demonstrations? Or will the divide between spiritual warfare and civic action continue, while families wait for ransom calls that may never end?

Despite the recent kidnappings in Oyo and Ekiti States, none of our top men of God has deemed it fit to talk or make any public statement. 

All they have done is that they have kept quiet, as if nothing had happened. 

This only mean one thing, they are only interested in their church businesses. That is why they have kept quiet over the recent Oyo and Ekiti States kidnapping situations. 

This one we can say is very sad. We can also say these top men of God have failed in their roles to speak up as Prophets of Old, against these bandits and kidnappers ravaging our lands; kidnapping children, women, young girls, youths and keeping them in thick forests as a bait to collect ransoms in millions, billions and sometimes in trillions. 

When will the likes of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor William Kumuyi, Pastor Daniel Olukoya, Bishop Francis Wale Oke and several others going to speak up as the real and authentic men of God that they are?

When? When? I say again, when?

The above questions will continue running in the minds of Nigerians until they heed to it and do the needful. 

Where They Are, For Now:

• Bishop David Oyedepo: Declaring “judgment” and “vengeance” from Ota. 

• Pastor E.A. Adeboye: Leading “holy war” prayers at Redemption Camp. 

• Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, Dr. D.K. Olukoya, Bishop Wale Oke: No recent direct public statements on banditry found in major coverage as of May 2026, though Kumuyi and Olukoya are frequently grouped in social media call-outs. 

• The Church: Increasingly a victim, with pastors and members among the abducted.   

Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has moved from the periphery to the pew. What the fathers of faith do next may shape not only the church’s credibility, but the nation’s response to a war it can no longer pray away alone.