Gunmen who kidnapped Kaduna Baptist pastor demand ransom

Kidnappers of a pastor of a Baptist Church in Kaduna State Wednesday have reportedly demanded a ransom of N20m.

The pastor was, until his abduction, in charge of the Nagarta Baptist Church Ungwan Makiri, close to Udawa in Chikun Local Government Area of the state.

The Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State confirmed the abduction of the pastor and revealed his name as Pastor Elisha Numan.

It was gathered that the pastor was abducted by 20 heavily armed men.
The armed men reportedly invaded his residence and forcefully took him and his son away in the early hours of Wednesday.

Pastor Numan’s son, Emmanuel, who was abducted alongside him, was later released by the abductors, reportedly to be used as negotiating contact.

Speaking on the incident, Emmanuel said, “About 20 armed men came to the village and started hitting and banging at doors but nobody opened.

“They forced their way into houses and vandalised properties and carted away some valuables, including mobile phones and clothing in my mother’s box(luggage).

“They(kidnappers) later picked me together with my father. But after we have moved a while in the bush, I was released and they went away with my father.

““One of them was dressed in military camouflage. As they released me, they threatened that if we didn’t bring money(ransom) in five days even though they didn’t mention the specific ransom, they will kill him (pastor).

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“We are yet to report to the police because even when we had similar experience in the past and contacted them, they did not do anything about it.

“They later called us and asked us to raise N20m ransom so they could release him. We don’t have that kind of money but we are still negotiating with them”.

This incident is occurring less than two weeks after the abduction of Pastor Jeremiah Omolewa of the Living Faith Church, Ungwan Romi also in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Omolewa was killed by his abductors and the wife held, while the son escaped.

The kidnappers demanded a N50m ransom before they could release the pastor’s wife.

She, however, regained her freedom after the payment of N3m ransom, according to a source.

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