Cape Town - The head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, Samuel Kanu and two other priests who were kidnapped on Sunday, have been freed, the Methodist Church in Lagos confirmed to the BBC.
Police spokesman in Abia State, Geoffrey Ogbonna, yesterday confirmed their release to the News Agency of Nigeria.
Asked if they paid any ransom, Ogbonna said: “I can only confirm to you that they have been freed this evening. I don’t have the details for now.”
“Nigeria is one of the deadliest places on Earth for Christians, as 50,000 to 70,000 have been killed since 2000,” the ICC Persecutor of the Year report states. https://t.co/yPH0nGSskR
— roboticanimation (@newbreed1914) May 28, 2022
According to Nigerian news broadcaster, Today News, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), yesterday condemned in its entirety the kidnapping of Methodist Church Prelate, His Eminence Samuel Kanu and some of his priests in Abia state, describing it as sacrilegious, the online news publication said.
IPOB called on the kidnappers to release unconditionally the respected men of God they abducted, wondering what they stood to achieve in kidnapping a prelate and his colleagues, who are neither politicians nor money bags.
According to the media report, Kanu was travelling with two other priests on a highway in the south-eastern state of Abia when they were kidnapped, the BBC said.
It is unclear how they were freed, but separatist groups frequently carry out abductions in the region, said reports.
Soon after the news of the abduction came out, members of the Methodist Church in the country started hourly chain-prayers for the release of Dr Kanu and the other priests.
Two Catholic priests, Fr Oliver Okpara and Stephen Ojapa, have been kidnapped from Nigeria's Sokoto diocese. Please pray for their safe release. pic.twitter.com/vQx5tnyWop
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) May 26, 2022
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