Army Denies Involvement of Soldiers in Kidnap of Methodist Church Prelate

Kingsley Nwezeh

The Nigerian Army yesterday denied that soldiers were complicit in the kidnap of the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence Samuel Kanu-Uche.

The head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, had among other claims, stated that security agencies especially soldiers, who were situated at Lokpa Junction along Umuneochi and Isikwuato Local Government Councils of Abia State were indifferent to the kidnap incident.

Members of the church had contributed N100 million for payment of the ransom demanded by the kidnappers.

He identified the kidnappers as Fulani herdsmen, whom he described as the culprits behind the business of kidnapping in Abia State.

He had also alleged that the kidnappers were going behind soldiers at the checkpoint, who were also of Fulani extraction without any action taken by the army personnel even when they made the ransom payment.

But the Nigerian Army Headquarters, in a statement, denied the allegations.

It said allegations by the prelate were not founded on any investigation.

“The Nigerian Army has been notified of the insinuation 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 recently. 

“While the Nigerian Army expresses concern and sympathy for the victim of this 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,” it said.

“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 Nigerian Army into confidence while negotiating the ransom with the kidnappers? it queried.

It said no formal complaint was received by the army unit in the area.

“More worrisome is the fact that it was alleged that the ransom was paid in less than 24 hours. Was the ransom 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 said.

The statement signed by the Spokesman of  of the Nigerian Army, Brig-Gen Onyema Nwachukwu added,  “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 Nigerian Army.”

Nwachukwu said he was taking the allegation seriously and would meet with the prelate to ascertain the basis of the allegation.

“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.