By Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
Authorities of the Nigerian Army (NA), on Wednesday, tackled freed kidnapped Prelate of the Methodist Church, Nigeria, His Eminence Samuel Kanu Uche, raising three posers begging for answers.
Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement laced with subtle anger and threat, said the NA would take the “weighty allegation seriously and approach the Prelate and the Methodist Church to unravel the basis for the allegation.”
Stonix News reports that the Prelate was kidnapped on Sunday along with two others, but were freed Monday the following day after paying a ransom of N100 million to the kidnappers.
They were kidnapped by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen along the Lokpa axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Lagos, the man of God alleged that their abductors were not only about eight Fulani boys who spoke fulfude, but they appeared ably working hand in hand with troops of the Nigerian Army whose location is said to be near there.
Reacting to the allegation, Brigadier General Nwachukwu, said “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.”
Titled “Alleged Complicity by Soldiers in Bishop’s Kidnap Unsubstantiated,” the NA raised some posers in part of its reaction thus:
‘This allegation, therefore, raises some pertinent questions which are still unanswered.
“Given, the spate of insecurity in the region, the 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?
“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.
“More so, 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.
“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.”
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