The Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr Sam Uche, who was reportedly kidnapped on Sunday alongside some of his aides have been released by his abductors.
Dr Sam Uche on Tuesday confirmed that the people who abducted him, a bishop of the church and his chaplain collected N100 million as ransom before they were released.
The Prelate was kidnapped alongside the Bishop of Owerri Diocese, Reverend Dennis Mark, and his chaplain last Sunday on their way from a church programme in Okigwe, Imo State to Isuochi in Umu Nneochi Local Government Area of Abia State.
They were all released on Monday after spending a day with the abductors.
Recounting his experience at a press conference at the Hoare’s Memorial Methodist Church, Yaba, in Lagos on Tuesday, the cleric said the church paid N100 million to the abductors, adding that the money was arranged in five sacks of N20 million in each sack.
Narrating his ordeal Prelate Uche said “They were torturing us, it was in the process of the torture that I hit my right eye on the tree and blood was coming out and even when blood was flowing and it was soaking my handkerchief they did not feel like anything happens, all they were saying is that we should follow them.
The claimed that they were not actually against Nigeria citizens, but were against the government, that this government is a bad government. They were all Fulani boys, the eight of them were Fulani boys.”
Uche added that the kidnappers said any day they see the president or any of his representatives, they would chew them raw.
“They said that he is their brother, but that the man has disappointed them and disappointed Nigerians. I told them I am a church man and they said we should negotiate.
‘’They asked each of us to pay N50 million and the three of us will pay N150 million. I picked my phone and negotiated. I told my people in the church to get the money, somebody said we have raised N30 million, I told SOC, any money in the office transfer it to them, life is more important than money. That was how we raised that money,” he said.
The Prelate also denied that neither the federal, state governments nor even security operatives made efforts to secure his release.
Meanwhile, the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has attributed the safe release and return of kidnapped Prelate of the Methodist Church Nigeria, Samuel Kanu-Uche, to divine intervention.
Sharing his excitement about the development in a statement on Monday by his Chief Press Secretary, Sir Onyebuchi Ememanka, the governor stated that their release was through “grace of God, the fervent prayers of the Christian Community and the well-coordinated response from security agencies in Abia State”.
The statement read, “The Governor is grateful to God for His saving grace upon the Prelate of who is a son of Abia State.
“Ikpeazu assured that security will be stepped up around the Isuikwuato – Umunneochi axis of the State which has, in the recent past, been a spike in the activities of criminals.
He explained that “The location of the area around the state’s borders with four states of Imo, Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi make it attractive to criminals who easily enter the State and also escape through any of these routes.
“The Governor called for Inter State Collaboration with the neighboring states in securing those areas and stamp out the activities of criminals there.”
Dr. Samuel Emeka Kanu Uche, 69, is the current Prelate of the Methodist Church in Nigeria. He was born on January 29, 1953. He served the Church as Ministerial Cadet (1975/1976). He was accepted into the Ministry of the Church in 1976, commissioned a Deacon in 1979, ordained a Priest in 1982, appointed a Presbyter in 1990, elected a Bishop at 1998 Conference held in Ode Aye in the Diocese of Igbobini in August 1998. He was consecrated Bishop at the Methodist Church of the Trinity, Tinubu, Lagos on 21st November, 1998. He was enthroned Bishop of Owerri on 14th February, 1999, elected Archbishop of Enugu on August 15, 2009, invested at the Methodist Church of the Trinity, Tinubu, Lagos in November 2009 and was enthroned as Archbishop of Enugu on 31st January, 2010.
He was elected the Prelate of Methodist Church on September 1, 2013, and was invested with the paraphenalia of office on 6th October, 2013 as the first Igbo Prelate of the premier Church in Nigeria after 171 years of its existence.
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