Gunmen abducts pastor in Kaduna, demand N2m ransom

Gunmen have abducted a popular pastor in Angwan Makiri, near Udawa, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and have demanded a ransom of N20 million as a condition for his release.

Elisha Numan, the pastor of Nagarta Baptist Church in the community, was kidnapped at about 2:00am on Wednesday, with his son, Emmanuel, who was later released to go and mobilise for the payment of the ransom.

The bandits were said to have arrived the community in large number, and forced their way into the pastor’s residence, after firing several shots.

Narrating their ordeal, after his release, Emmanuel said the bandits later called at about 2:00pm to demand for N20m ransom.

“About 20 men, all of them armed, came to the village and started shooting. They came to our house and started hitting and banging at our doors but nobody opened.

They then forced their way into the house and vandalised everything. They carted away some valuables including mobile phones and clothing in my mother’s box.

They later picked me together with my father. But after we moved a while to the bush, I was released and they went away with my father. One of them was dressed in military camouflage. As they released me, they threatened that if we didn’t bring money in five days, even though they didn’t mention the specific ransom, they will kill him. They later called us and asked us to raise N20m so that they could release him. We don’t have that kind of money. But we are still negotiating with them. We are yet to report to the police because even when we had similar experience in the past and contacted them, they did not do anything about it” �j�U��;