The personal coordination of the strategies presented by heads of security agencies by President Bola Tinubu led to the successful rescue of all the 38 kidnapped church worshippers of Eruku, Ifelodun LGA, Kwara State by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) around 3.20 pm on Sunday, The Nation has gathered.

Several AK-47 – wielding men last Wednesday invaded the Christ Apostolic Church, Eruku, Kwara State, shooting at worshippers.

At the end of the bloody attack which was inadvertently streamed live, two worshippers lay dead with several others wounded. The gunmen thereafter fled into the bushes with 38 other worshippers, triggering international outrage.

It was learnt from trusted security sources that the President had personally taken charge of coordinating the operations, taking round-the-clock briefings, weighing the options, and resolving to go to extreme lengths to prove wrong all those accusing his administration of not protecting Christians and non-Christians enough.

The sources further disclosed that the President’s personal involvement triggered an unprecedented intelligence mapping and aerial surveillance by Office of the NSA, resulting in DSS operatives swapping on established coordinates in the forests of Oreke Okeigbo, in Ifelodun LGA of Kwara State.

It was further gathered that the President approved the Sunday raid by the DSS and the Nigeria Air Force, culminating in the rescue of the victims.

The sources said the operation was highly classified, so were not certain if the kidnappers fled on sighting the security operatives, or were eliminated.

The sources drew attention to the fact that some gunmen in June attacked a marble mining company in the same area, killing two policemen and kidnapped some Chinese workers.

A breakdown of the 38 rescued kidnapped church worshippers showed that 26 of them are females while the remaining 12 are males.

The oldest victim is 67 years old while the youngest worshipper is five. Four other rescued victims are six, nine years old respectively.

Two of them are 10 years old; three are in their pre-teens, four are teenagers while the rest are between 20 and 58 years old, the sources disclosed. (TRHE NATION)

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