Dunamis Pastor Dies in Crash While Fleeing Bandits on Makurdi Road
A devoted pastor of the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Pastor Abraham Francis Aduh Ojo, has met a tragic end in a fatal car accident while desperately trying to escape from armed bandits who ambushed him on a notorious highway in Benue State, plunging his family, church community, and scores of faithful followers into profound grief at a time when insecurity continues to cast a dark shadow over Nigeria’s rural roads.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday, February 12, 2026, revealed the escalating dangers faced by travelers on federal highways plagued by banditry, kidnapping, and violent robberies, as Pastor Ojo was returning from a successful crusade in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, where he had been ministering to thousands of worshippers in what was described by close associates as a spiritually uplifting event filled with miracles and fervent prayers.
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Eyewitness accounts and family confirmations paint a harrowing picture of the pastor’s final moments: as he navigated the treacherous stretch of road late in the evening, his vehicle suddenly came under attack by a gang of bandits engaged in their routine operation of waylaying motorists, forcing him into a high-speed evasion maneuver that tragically ended in a catastrophic crash, claiming his life instantly and leaving behind a legacy of faithful service marred by the brutal realities of Nigeria’s security challenges.
The heart-wrenching confirmation of Pastor Ojo’s demise came from his nephew, Abuja-based Richard Enemona, who broke the news in an emotional Facebook post on Friday, February 13, 2026, detailing the sequence of events with raw sorrow that has since gone viral, drawing condolences from across the country and highlighting the pervasive fear gripping communities along bandit-infested routes like the Makurdi-Abuja axis.
“My Uncle was coming from Makurdi yesterday after a crusade when he ran into bandits. He tried to escape but had an accident and died immediately,” Enemona wrote, capturing the suddenness of the tragedy that transformed a routine journey home into a fatal encounter with violence, a scenario all too familiar in Nigeria where unarmed civilians, including clergy and humanitarian workers, have increasingly become targets of opportunistic criminals exploiting poor road policing and vast ungoverned spaces.
He further eulogized his uncle as a steadfast servant of God who, until his untimely death, had dedicated his life to pastoral duties at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, a prominent Pentecostal megachurch led by Dr. Paul Enenche, known for its expansive reach in Abuja and beyond, where Pastor Ojo reportedly touched countless lives through preaching, counseling, and community outreach programs that embodied the gospel’s call to compassion amid national hardships.
As news of the accident spread like wildfire through social media and church networks, the family and the broader Dunamis community have been enveloped in an atmosphere of deep mourning, with Enemona’s post concluding on a poignant note of farewell: “Rest well uncle Pastor Abraham Francis Aduh Ojo,” a simple yet devastating tribute that resonates with the collective pain of a nation weary from losing its shepherds to the scourge of banditry, even as authorities have yet to issue an official statement or launch a probe into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Sources close to the family revealed that Pastor Ojo, in his late 50s and originally from Benue State, was not just a spiritual leader but a family pillar whose death has left an irreplaceable void, prompting calls from religious bodies for enhanced security patrols on major highways and a renewed push for federal intervention to curb the bandit menace that has claimed numerous lives in recent months.
While the Benue State Police Command and the Dunamis Church hierarchy were yet to respond to inquiries at press time, the incident serves as a grim reminder of the human cost of Nigeria’s insecurity crisis, urging stakeholders to prioritize road safety measures and community protection in the face of such preventable tragedies.
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