Gunmen on Tuesday, attacked the Celestial Church of Christ at Wasimi in Ewekoro LGA of Ogun state and abducted two worshippers.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Ogun police spokesperson, told TheCable that a vigil was ongoing when the church was attacked.
According to him, the police are on the trail of the kidnappers and would ensure the abducted worshippers are rescued.
“They were having a vigil in that church, so the kidnappers came to attack them there. They kidnapped two members of the church,” he said.
“We are on their trail, we are tracing them. It is our duty to rescue those people that were abducted and we are doing everything possible to do that.”
Oyeyemi advised residents to be vigilant and to inform the nearest police station whenever they intend to have events at night.
“People should be more vigilant because security is everybody’s business and our people are supposed to play their own part,” he said.
“We have given a statement before now that whenever you want to have a vigil, especially when it is in an isolated place, try as much as possible to inform the direct police station close to that place so that they will be having constant patrol of the area.”
Meanwhile, Oluwatomisin Ehuwaojomo, the parish priest, who spoke to Daily Trust, said the kidnappers have demanded N50 million ransom from the church.
He said: “When my assistant called me almost two hours after they left, the kidnappers initially refused to speak with me but on his third attempt, they spoke with me and requested for N50 million ransom. I told them that I am a servant of God and I don’t receive a salary.”
The kidnapped victims are Oluwaseun Ajose, an assistant parish priest, and Dagunro Ayobami, the Sunday school teacher
Acting accountant-general of the federation, Anamekwe Nwabuoku, has disclosed that Nigeria is borrowing money to pay salaries.
Nwabuoku who spoke on Tuesday at a retreat organised by the office of the AGF for members of the technical sub-committee on cash management (TSCM) in Abuja, said there is an increase in government expenditure due to rising security challenges and the social needs of the citizenry.
“We have to borrow to augment payment of salaries and wages. This shows we are in very difficult times. Government income is highly challenged,” he said.
“The theme and objective of the retreat couldn’t have been better captioned, given the fiscal challenges at the moment. Records available indicate that due to dwindling revenues, the treasury had to resort to other sources to augment the payment of federal government public servants.
“There is an increase in government expenditure due to increasing security challenges and social needs of the citizenry.”
He advised that there should be deliberate efforts to revert the trend through fiscal discipline, economic diversification, export sector promotion and plunging revenue leakages, among others, to ensure revenue inflow.
“Now that these challenges stare us in the face, you are all expected at this gathering to come out with ideas that will push us through,” he added.
“Therefore, we must all, at this retreat, strive towards identifying the challenges to revenue generation and other means of enhancing inflow into federal government cash box; ensuring the cutting down the cost of governance in the most acceptable way and ensuring synergy amongst and within stakeholders in the sub-committee.”
Speaking further, the acting AGF lauded the effort of Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, for her consistent support in improving members’ capabilities.
On his part, Sabo Mohammed, director of funds, OAGF, said a deeper fiscal discipline requires that government should avoid excessive borrowings.
“It warrants avoiding excessive borrowing and debt accumulation. It’s expected that discussions at this forum will help in improving the capacities of members and stakeholders and getting them more acquainted with Nigeria’s fiscal challenges and advance recovery strategies that will enable effective management and avoid fiscal deficits,” he said.
“Fiscal deficits often indicate a variety of adverse domestic and external shocks that affect budgets directly as well as through their impact on the economic environment. Indebtedness, over the past years, calls for concerns.”
