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ISWAP fighters execute abducted CAN chairman

Published

4 years ago

January 21, 2020

The Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters have executed the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Rev. Lawan Andimi.

Ahmed Salkida, a Nigerian journalist living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) broke the news via Twitter on Tuesday.

He said the CAN chairman was executed by his abductors on Monday.

Salkida, who has been reporting on the activities of the Boko Haram since mid-2006 and extensively covered the conflict between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram said: “To break some news items can traumatize. I’m battling with one of such. Rev. Andimi who was abducted by #BokoHaram was executed yesterday. (Monday).

“Rev. Andimi was a church leader, a father to his children and the community he served. My condolences go to his family.”

Rev. Andimi, who was abducted in early January when Boko Haram insurgents attacked Michika village, had cried out from captivity and asked the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, to rescue him.

In a video obtained by Salkida, the journalist known to have access to the leadership of the terror group, the CAN chairman said the insurgents have not maltreated him since he was abducted.

Meanwhile, CAN has reacted angrily to the reported execution of the cleric.

In a statement issued by its Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Evan. Kwamkur Samuel Vondip and titled: “The brutal murder of Rev. Lawan Andimi: A shame to Nigerian Government,” the Christian umbrella body accused the government of colluding with terrorists to exterminate Christians.

The statement read: “The President of CAN, Rev. Dr. Samson Supo Ayokunle and indeed the entire CAN leadership and the Nigerian Church are deeply saddened with the news of the gruesome murder of Rev. Lawan Andimi, the CAN Chairman in Michika Local Government Area and the District Church Council Secretary of the Ecclesiya Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN) Church in Michika, Adamawa State.

“We recall sadly that Late Rev. Lawan Andimi while in captivity made a passionate appeal to the leadership of his church and the Federal Government to come to his rescue. The church did everything within her reach to secure the safe release of this pastor gentleman but it was not possible because they didn’t have the military power to do so.

“Just last Sunday, a clergyman, Rev. Denis Bagauri was murdered by unknown gunmen in his residence at Mayo Belwa of Adamawa State.

“The church views the unabated kidnappings, extortions and killings of Christians and innocent Nigerians as shameful to the government that each time boasts that it has conquered insurgency. It is reprehensible and saddening that each time the government comes out to claim the defeat of the insurgency, more killings of our people are committed. In the light of the current developments and the circumstancestantial facts surrounding the prevailing upsurge of attacks against the church, it will be difficult for us to believe that the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari is not colluding with the insurgents to exterminate Christians in Nigeria bearing in mind the very questionable leadership of the security sector that has been skewed towards a religion and region! Is that lopsidedness not a cover-up for the operation of the insurgency? If not, why couldn’t the well-equipped security agents of Nigeria get this man killed rescued?”

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