Methodist Church paid N100m for my release, says Prelate

• As IPOB accuses CAN of neglecting abducted Igbo priest

Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria, Samuel Uche, who was released from his abductors on Monday, said N100 million was paid as ransom.

At a press conference in Lagos, yesterday, the cleric said the money was arranged in five sacks containing N20 million each.
He said the Church raised the money, adding that neither the federal or state government nor the military or police intervened.

The cleric was kidnapped on Sunday in Abia State alongside two others: the Bishop of Owerri Diocese and the Prelate’s chaplain. They were reportedly whisked away at about 2:00 p.m. as they returned from a church programme.

The cleric added that his abductors beat and threatened to kill him if the money was not paid.

MEANWHILE, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has criticised Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for what it termed deliberate neglect of Rev. Fr. Oliver Okpala, an Igbo Catholic priest allegedly kidnapped last week by bandits in Sokoto State.

IPOB said CAN deliberately ignored Okpala’s ordeal because he is of Igbo extraction, wondering why there has been no condemnation from the Christian umbrella body.

In a statement, yesterday, the spokesman for IPOB, Emma Powerful, urged CAN to fight for the release of the young priest. The statement reads in part: “CAN deliberately ignored his ordeal, simply for the fact that he is an Igbo man. That is why Igbo Christians ought to, as a matter of urgency, form their own Christian association, as matters affecting their right to life in Nigeria are consistently being neglected.

“Why would a Catholic priest suffer deliberate neglect and discrimination due to his Igbo race, and the Catholic (Church), as a body, is mute? Has he been regarded as being of no political advantage to CAN, the political class and the media?”