Five Nigerian pastors have been arrested and detained by the Cameroonian authorities.
The pastors were detained alongside others residing in the Idabato II community of Cameroon, formerly known as the Bakassi Peninsula.
Their detention followed the kidnap of the community’s Divisional Officer, Ewane Roland, by armed men in early October.
Local media had reported that Roland, alongside another official of the council, Etongo Ismaeil, were abducted on October 1, 2024, by gunmen who used a flying boat in the coastal area.
A former chairman of the Yoruba community in the defunct Bakassi Peninsula, Eniola Alabo, told Punch that the Cameroonian government blamed Nigerians in the area for Roland’s abduction and deployed soldiers to arrest them.
“The Gendarmerie came to the community and started shooting sporadically into the air on the day they arrested some of these Nigerians,” Alabo said.
During the raid, some Nigerians, including Iseoluwa Eniola, Feran Ajimosun, Idowu Ajimosun, Abiola Ajimosun, Blessing Ajimosun, Sunny Bassey, Feran Samagbeyi, and Godwin were detained in Idabato II.
Cameroon’s South-West Governor, Bernard Okalia, visited Idabato on October 8, 2024.
He was said to have declared a total lockdown of the area, which had mostly Nigerians who were fishermen.
Okalia was said to have issued a 72-hour ultimatum to both Nigerians and Cameroonians in the community to produce Roland alive, Punch reports.
Unable to work due to the lockdown, Nigerians in the area reportedly defied the governor’s order in the first week of November to go about their fishing business.
“They stayed at home doing nothing for three weeks. The people were hungry because their source of livelihood was put on hold. They had to go out to eat,” Alabo told the publication.
The action was said to have angered the Cameroonian authorities, who deployed soldiers in Idabato on the 10th and 11th of November 2024 to arrest Nigerians in the community.
According to Alabo, the soldiers invaded the community and started shooting sporadically in the air, which made many Nigerians suffer varying degrees of injury.
During the lockdown imposed on Nigerians in Idabato II, churches were also locked.
But when Nigerians began attending to their normal activities, churches also opened on Sunday to Christians.
“Some soldiers invaded the Assembly Church of God in the area and arrested the Nigerian pastors there because they were told not to engage in any activities,” the Bakassi Peninsula ex-leader said.
“The names of the pastors arrested by Cameroonian soldiers that day were Adeleke Omoniye, Cascar Ubom, Etim Asuquo, Olamide Ayeye, and Umoh Atete.”
The pastors were whisked away by the Cameroonian soldiers to unknown places.
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