Back from the Lions' den, the story of Rev Olofinlade, who was kidnapped on the Golf course

Back from the Lions' den, the story of Rev Olofinlade, who was kidnapped on the Golf course

The gripping story of a Catholic Priest, who was kidnapped on his way home after playing golf in Ekiti state but got rescued after three nights and four days in the kidnappers' den.

Rev. Fr Michael Olofinlade is the founder of Saint Kizito Wellness Project, a charity foundation per-occupied with supporting the mental health of priests and religious. He was the convener of the

2026 Catholic Golfers Association Charity Golf Kitty - Swing to Serve In Love tournament, held at the Ikeja Golf Club on Wednesday, March 11. The one day tournament was organised to support St Kizito Wellness Project, inspired by Father Olofinlade's ordeal in 2023 in Ekiti state.

Candy Agu, a member of the Catholic Golfers Association said “Today's event meets one of our objectives, which is charity. What we have done is to create awareness about the fact that priests are humans and they also have health challenges and to help them we have used this tournament to raise some funds for the Saint Kizito Wellness project.”

Rev Olofinlade told journalists that he was inspired by his kidnapping experience. He recalled the torture and indignity he suffered in the hands of the kidnappers and the long road to his mental, physically and psychological recovery. That is why I decided to use golf and raise money for charity,” he said. Jacob Ajom was among a select group of journalists that met and spoke with Father Olofinlade. Excerpts.

What inspired this project?

My kidnapping experience inspired me. Precisely January 14, 2023. I went to Archdiocesan headquarters for a program (a funeral) then I wanted to play golf. After the golf I decided to return back home, It was on my way around 5:45pm, As I was going through a quiet rough road, not up to five minutes, I saw three young men in front of me. They came out of the bush, I thought it was a dream, I tried to put the car in reverse, I saw another set of two, armed with rifles, and they said stop, come down and lie down, I obeyed, they tied my hands, so that's how the journey began into the forest.

Where did this happen?

In Ekiti, Oye local government. Then we moved from Ekiti to Kwara, day and night we were walking inside the forest, When it was around 3am, I got to know the time through their wrist watch. One of them asked me, 'Do you know who we are? Have you heard of kidnappers before?' I said yes. Then he said, 'we are kidnappers; so just cooperate with us or we will kill you. I followed them, as we were going, my hands still tied, at a point, they blindfolded me, at another point they removed the blindfold, when they got to a place, they tied my hands and my legs and they started beating me and inflicted serious injuries on me.

As I was crying they said I should not cry, the more I cried, the more they beat me, The same process the first day, second day, I spent four days and three nights with them. So many things happened in the course of movement, climbing mountains here and there. On the second day, they said they were going to kill me. They put a knife to my neck, took water from a pond and asked me to drink, I had to drink it so we continued to move. One night we saw a python, they said they wanted to kill me, one of them said leave him we won't get the money, so they were speaking Hausa, five of them are purely Fulani and they were young men.

Did they know you are a Rev, Father?

At a point I told them that I was a Priest, but they didn't know the difference between Catholic or Anglican. They told me to call my people to take the car that they saw me with, sell it and bring the money. On the second night they put me in the cleft of a rock. Four of them were on guard while the fifth one was busy communicating and negotiating with people outside; telling them how much they would collect. They are well connected, so somebody told them to go to Ayede, they know the whole area. So they were negotiating, they started with 30 million, they were making contacts from 30 million to 25, from 25 to 20 million. Eventually I didn't know how much was paid. They beat up the person who brought the money. They beat him very well, collected the money and not only money, energy drinks, cigarettes, spirits.

They told your people to bring all those things?

Yes, they collected everything. After that they released me. From where I was released to the town, took us around 45 minutes on bike. When we got to the town, I saw people jubilating, then I went straight to the hospital.

In the process I knew how they were collecting money, because through the phone they were communicating with. different people. Different people contributed money for my freedom.

So after a week in the hospital I was discharged to go for therapy. In the process of therapy I realized that kidnapping impacted negatively on people.

So I traveled out and came back. In the process of healing, I still met different people who were also sharing their experiences, their relatives who had been kidnapped and I met a few people who had also been kidnapped. In some cases they collected ransom and still killed them after the ransom. Some of them got shot but not killed. I even met a priest a few days ago, he was shot on the leg after paying ransom, So different things have happened to different people at different times. Why I decided to go on this charity project, I came to realize that different people contributed to the paying of my ransom, I just want to be grateful for what they have done and I realized that they are still other people who are incapable of managing their problem. I still met a Priest who was telling me, Father I can't stay without taking alcohol, he was kidnapped and after his release, he had no money to go for therapy, His bishop did what was humanly possible but you know psychological therapy takes a lot. There are other people whom I have met and I realized that they need help. When I think of the help I received, it is by God's grace that I am still alive. Different people surrounded me. So the little I can give to those outside, who I know need this help more, especially priests and religious, let me do. If there are other people whom I think there is little I can do, I will do it.

So that is what inspired this golf tournament. I said well, it was golf I played that led to my kidnap, so let me use sports as an avenue because through sports, you make friends, you are healthy and so many things come your way as a sports person . So I said let me go through sports. My friends who are golfers said, 'Father, do it for us, all of us are doing it together. So, this one was really organised by my golf friends.

From your experience, what do you think the government and the entire society can do to curb kidnapping?

There are so many things that need to be done, on the part of the government and individually. Criminality is everywhere both within and outside the country but then, some accommodate criminality. Like I said, the security people need to do more. There are certain things that we need to keep quiet; it's not everything that we publicise because sometimes these kidnappers listen to the news on radio, read newspapers and the like. They follow the narrative that we have in society. That is why we need to be careful with what you put in the papers. As individuals, we need to be proactive in terms of security. Every hand should be on deck.

How did security operatives react, when you were kidnapped?

It was swift. The first people that came out were the hunters. You know the place was a village, a rural setting. They came to the forest that night, as I was told, they even spent the night in the forest till the next morning. Later I was told the Police, Civil Defence and even soldiers came around because there were military checkpoints. But I must tell you we passed through military checkpoints without them knowing because we avoided them by passing behind them while they were on the road. These kidnappers know their routes. Like the guy who brought the ransom told me that he was stopped more than five times by different people, who wanted to know whether he was being followed.

They are well connected. I saw them as mercenaries because I believe the money they collected was not meant for them.