Nigeria: Ipob Not Involved in Kidnap, Methodist Prelate Clarifies

3 June 2022
Leadership (Abuja)
By Jeremy

Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Samuel Kanu-Uche, who was kidnapped on Sunday, has said there are plans to destroy Nigeria.

He also said the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had nothing to do with the incident.

The prelate warned that Nigeria could only be victorious with a nationalist leader to restore common bond and trust among the people.

Kanu-Uche stated this while recounting his ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers during an interview with AriseTV, monitored by LEADERSHIP in Abuja.

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.

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The three men were released on Monday after the sum of N100 million was arranged by the church and packed in five sacks of N20 million each and handled to the abductors.

The clergyman also revealed that some of his abductors were from Sudan and Mali and had lived in Nigeria for a long time, saying that his kidnap had nothing to do with the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

"What they did to me has nothing to do with IPOB. It was pure kidnapping by Fulani herdsmen. They are Fulani children born in Igbo land. It has nothing to do with IPOB.

"Some people have plans to do something in this country. There is something they are planning," he said.

Kanu-Uche who blamed the occurrence on the bad leadership in the country also described the abductors are "heartless."

"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.

"They took my wedding ring, took my costly wrist watch, my chain and everything, money but life is more than that. They were heartless.

"The other one spoke well and with the level he spoke, I believe he went to a level above secondary school."

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