15 Kaduna church worshippers remain in captivity three weeks after, CAN laments

The Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), on Sunday, lamented that 15 kidnapped Kaduna church worshippers were still in captivity three weeks after they were abducted.

CAN Chairman in the state, Rev John Joseph Hayab said this on Sunday while peaking with journalists in Kaduna, explaining that 15 of the kidnapped church worshippers were still in captivity and nobody had even shown concern about how to get them out from the bush.

He said: “This is three Sundays, that is three weeks, 21 days with over 40 worshippers that were abducted in Bege Baptist Church Madallah near Buruku in Chikun Local Government Area of Kadtuna State,15 of them are still with the bandits.

“All efforts to get the bandits to release them have not yielded any fruit. As I speak to you now, the bandits are still making huge demands.

“All efforts to get the bandits to release them have not yielded any fruit. As I speak to you now, the bandits are still making huge demands.

“These poor villagers don’t have the money to get these people out. The bandits are demanding bikes, demanding cash. Where would these people have such money to give? These are poor farmers that couldn’t even get to farm in a year and you keep their wives, their children,their parents in the bush. Nobody is saying anything. Those in power are just thinking of what to grab next.

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“Nobody has even shown concerned on how to get these people delivered to their respective families.

“The others that came back from captivity, came back not because anybody paid any money or anybody made any effort for them to come back. Some were released by the bandits because they were weak and could not continue to travel, some the bandits thought they were dead and abandoned them. They regained consciousness and came back.

“Some, along the line the bandits realized that it may not be necessary to carry these kinds of people. They( bandits) have kept 15 of them. 15, as I speak to you are with the bandits. I’ve just had a conversation with the local communities. Their cry is how do they raise the funds to buy the bikes and provide the resources the bandits are asking?

“We really don’t know what to do.

“Our appeal is either the outgoing government to use these last 24 hours to rescue our people and let them come back home. But if they fail, then our appeal to the new government is to come in with a new lease and ensure that these people do not last another 48 hours in the hands of the bandits.

“Let it be their first primary assignment to deliver these church worshippers, return these church worshippers from Madallah who are still in the hands of their captors.

“This is sad, we cannot have a government and this evil go unchecked. We cannot have a government and citizens would suffer these kinds of pains in the hands of these evil people and the government is not doing anything.

“CAN is worried, CAN is disturbed. I can say CAN is in the mood of mourning. Instead of us to be thinking of what would happen in the next 24 hours, sincerely as an association, we are worried about our people which is the most important thing.”

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