Kidnapping: Army To Meet Methodist Prelate Over Alleged Involvement Of Soldiers

The Nigerian Army (NA) has said it would interface with the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence Rev Samuel Kanu-Uche, to unravel circumstances surrounding his kidnap and alleged complicity by soldiers in Abia State.

The director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday while reacting to reports making the rounds on social media, alleging complicity of troops of the Nigerian Army in the kidnap incident of the Methodist Prelate in Abia state on Sunday.

He said while the Nigerian Army  expressed concern and sympathy for the victim of the heinous crime and shares in his pains, “the insinuation that troops are complicit in the kidnap incident is not entirely premised on any findings of investigations and therefore cannot be swallowed hook line and sinker.

“This allegation therefore raises some pertinent questions which are still unanswered.

“Given our professional disposition and zero tolerance for any misconduct in the Nigerian Army, we will take this weighty allegation seriously and approach the Prelate and the Methodist church to unravel the basis for the allegation,” he said.

The Prelate had in an interview after his release by the abductors, narrated his ordeals and part played by his church to secure his freedom.

He said the church paid N100m ransom while accusing security personnel of being complicit in the kidnap.

The Bishop alleged that the Nigerian Army base in Lomara was working  in cohorts with the “Fulani kidnappers” that abducted him in Umunneochi, Abia State.

However in response, Brig Gen Nwachukwu said given the spate of insecurity in the region, the right question would be, “was the issue reported to the unit covering the area? Did the Methodist Church take the NA into confidence while negotiating the ransom with the kidnappers?”

He said, “No formal complaint has been received by the unit.

“More worrisome is the fact that it was alleged that the ransom was paid in less than 24 hours. Was the ransome paid to troops?  These are questions that beg for answers.

“Moreso, the NA unit, has not received any debrief from the Prelate or the Methodist Church.

“It is, therefore, important to state that troops are deployed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Okigwe and in front of the Abia State University Uturu and  no information was made available to them or to 14 Brigade or any other formation, except the information making the rounds in the social media.

“It must be clarified that troops’ deployment in the Nigerian Army is not done with considerations for ethnic affiliation, hence a deployment of troops of Fulani ethnic extraction who as alleged by the Prelate, carried out the dastardly act is not our practice or modus operandi in the NA”.