Abuja—Nigerian Police Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad attached
to the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit at Force Headquarters, has
arrested the kidnappers and killers of Reverend Father John Adeyi, Parish
Priest of St. Bernard’s, Okpoga Parish, Diocese of Oturkpo, Benue State, who
was abducted on April 24. kidnappers
The arrest of the four-man kidnapping gang came just as the
deputy leader of the gang, Saidu Abdullahi, who confessed to personally
shooting the priest, told journalists that he killed the Reverend Father
because it was “destined he will kill him that way.” Other members of the gang
paraded at Force Headquarters yesterday were Suleiman Gina, gang leader; Aliyu
Garba and Hartuna Idi.
They confessed to collecting N1.7 million ransom from the
family of the cleric after the Church refused to pay. Asked why they collected
the ransom after killing the victim, Abdullahi said: “It was due to temptation.
“We killed him because the vigilantes of the town discovered where we were
keeping the priest and they were coming in large numbers to free him. That was
why we shot him and ran away.”
The hunt
On the arrest of the kidnappers, Force Public Relations
Officer, Donald Awunah, said: “Following the directive of the Inspector General
of Police to fish out the culprits, the Intelligence Response Team swung into
action. “Between September 1 and 4, the four suspects were trailed and arrested
at different locations in Bauchi, Enugu and Benue states.
“In the course of investigation, they confessed to being the
gang responsible for the kidnap and gruesome murder of Reverend Father Adeyi
and still collected a ransom of N1.7 million from his family. “The deputy
leader of the gang, Saidu Abdullahi, voluntarily told police that he fired the
fatal shot that killed the Reverend Father.
“The suspects led police to a bush in Orokam area of Benue
State, where three guns, used for the kidnap operation and murder of the
Reverend Father were buried. “The victim’s Nokia Lumia phone and another black
Gicent M9 phone, used in demanding for the ransom, were recovered from the
suspects.”
In the same vein, Deputy Governor of Benue State, Benson
Agbowu, who witnessed the parade of the suspects, commended police for the
marvellous job of apprehending the culprits, noting that the murder of Father
Adeyi caused outrage not only in Benue State, the Catholic Church, and among
the committee of Catholic Bishops in the country, but up to the Vatican City,
because they made appeals for the release of the cleric.
Describing Father Adeyi as a gifted priest who catered for
widows, the sick and the less privileged, the Deputy Governor said: “The state
had to set up a committee of all security agencies with a mandate to look for
and secure the release of the Reverend Father.”
‘Carrot-and-stick over’
On the present situation of crime in the state, Agbowu said:
“In the last two years, crime became something else in Benue State. Taase, alias
Ghana, one of the kingpins of crime even established an empire. “When we came
on board, our governor introduced a carrot-and-stick approach by calling on all
criminals to surrender their arms and renounce crime for some sort of
understanding.
“The said Ghana came out and over 700 other criminals said
they were buying into the governor’s programme and over 800 arms were
recovered. We thought we have made progress. But in recent times, the criminals
are back and are making life unbearable for the people.
Source:Vanguard
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