‘Kidnapped Catholic Reverend in Niger Now in Solitary Confinement’

Laleye Dipo

The Catholic Reverend, Dr. Leo Raphael Ozigi, who was abducted recently by terrorists on Sarkinpawa-Minna road in Niger State, has now been put in solitary confinement, according to a source close to his kidnappers.

Ozigi, according to the source, is tied hands and legs to a mango tree somewhere in the forest in Kaduna State.

THISDAY was told by his colleague, a Catholic priest, Reverend Basir Sarki, in Gwada, Niger State, that the latest development was divulged to him by a woman who was kidnapped by the same gunmen but was released recently.

According to the priest, the woman was released by the terrorists because she was allegedly “smelly.”

Sarki quoted the woman in a telephone interview with THISDAY that Ozigi is in “good health” and was being fed differently from other victims in the custody of the terrorists.

The priest said: “He is not allowed to mix with other victims; he still wears his cassocks, so they know he is a Christian and a clergyman.”

He said no ransom has been demanded for the release of the priest, adding that four other women kidnapped by the gunmen have been asked to pay a total ransom of N9million.

Sarki said the terrorists made separate contacts with the relations of the women during which they made the demand.

He said the bandits warned that the money should be presented speedily because they had plans to leave the area of the forest where they presently are hiding.

Sarki said the terrorists claimed they will leave the place because they are not sure if the federal government will take the advice of the Kaduna State governor to bomb their abodes in the forests.

In the wake of the bombing of the Kaduna- Abuja passenger train, Governor Nasir El-Rufai had restated his position that the government knows the locations of the terrorists in the forest, adding that the way out of the frequent attacks is for their hideouts to be bombed.