Methodist Prelate, Kanu-Uche, reveals identity of kidnappers, recounts travails

The Prelate of the Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence, Samuel Kanu-Uche, on Thursday revealed the identities of his kidnappers.

Kanu-Uche also recounted his ordeal on Thursday during an interview with AriseTV, monitored by Ripples Nigeria.

The cleric was abducted alongside the Methodist Bishop of Owerri, Rt. Rev. Dennis Mark, and the Prelate’s Chaplain, Very Rev. Shitti, along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State on Sunday.

The three men were however released on Monday.

During a media briefing in Lagos, he had revealed that the sum of N100 million was arranged by the church and packed in five sacks of N20 million each in order to secure their releases.

In the interview with AriseTV, Kanu-Uche unmasked the identities of the terrorists while narrating what happened during his trip to Lagos via Abia State.

Read also: Abducted Niger Catholic priest released after church pays bandits N10m ransom

He said, “I went for an apostolic duty to endorse the association of Methodist brigades where I preached. I was rushing to Owerri Airport en route to Lagos. On our way to Abia State, three boys came out from the bush brandishing guns. They fired at our tyres which made the vehicle tumble.

“The leader introduced himself as the Commander General of the Forest, so in any kidnapping case, I am responsible. They pleaded for cooperation for ransom. He showed us where they compost bodies in a very big gully if a ransom is not paid.

“They threatened to kill me during the negotiations; these kidnappers have sponsors who are the brains behind it. Their leader is a Fulani from Sudan; two were from Mali, and another from Songhai but they have lived in Nigeria for many years. They were stark illiterates; only one who claimed to be born at Umuahia was fluent,” the Methodist Prelate revealed.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army dismissed reports on the involvement of its personnel in the abduction of Kanu-Uche.

The Army Director of Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, who reacted to the reports, absolved the army of complicity in the clerics’ abduction.

He said although the army shares the pains of victims of heinous crimes, linking soldiers without investigations “cannot be swallowed hook line and sinker.”

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