Ikpeazu’s Reckless Claim on Release of Methodist Church Prelate

Notes for File

Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, last Tuesday confirmed to Nigerians that he failed as a governor to protect his people when he claimed that the release of Prelate of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, His Eminence Samuel Kanu-Uche, by Fulani herdsmen within 24 hours of his abduction was partly due to the “well-coordinated response from security agencies in Abia State”. 

Ikpeazu, in a press statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Onyebuchi Ememenka, also gave the impression that no ransom was paid before the clerics were freed on Monday.

 The governor’s claim was outright lies from the pit of hell. Both the Prelate of the Methodist Church and the Nigerian Army had punctured his claim.

First, the Prelate revealed that the church paid a ransom of N100 million to secure freedom for him and two other priests following their abduction on Sunday afternoon. The Prelate stated ourightly that neither the security agencies nor the government played any role in securing their release.

The Prelate further lamented the apparent indifference of the security agencies to the atrocities being committed by the Fulani herdsmen along the axis of evil within Umunneochi and Isuikwuato LGAs of Abia.

“But the irony of it is that where they (kidnappers) were situated, the soldiers all of Fulani extraction, Nigerian soldiers, they were there at Lokpa junction and these boys were going behind them,” he added.

He identified the gang that abducted him and his fellow clerics as “Fulani boys,” adding that their leader, who said he was born in Amuzukwu Umuahia, is about 35 years while others were in their teens.

While denying the alleged complicity of soldiers in the abduction, the spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu disclosed that no information was made available to the Nigerian Army on the abduction, contrary to Ikpeazu’s claim that security agencies responded swiftly.

Indeed some roads in Abia State have become worse than Abuja-Kaduna highway in terms of kidnapping by foreign bandits. Abia State governor’s claim was shameless and a confirmation that he failed as a governor to protect his people from the marauding killer-herdsmen.