Lagos State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Bishop Stephen Adegbite has said that the church had to look for N100 million ransom to free the Methodist Church prelate, Samuel Kanu-Uche, for fear of his life.
The prelate, Methodist Bishop of Owerri, Rt. Rev. Dennis Mark, and his the prelate’s chaplain were kidnapped on Sunday after a programme in Abia State. They were released on Monday after the ransom was paid.
Speaking with the media on Tuesday, Adegbite said, “When he spoke with me and said, ‘My son, go and look for this money. It has to be paid.’ We tried everything humanly possible and God supported us. We appealed to good Methodist people and they gave us the money, so that the Prelate will not sleep in the bush for the second night. He had no medications with him, they didn’t allow him to eat anything, for more than 12, 14 hours.
“He could have died and what are we going to say to the world? Because of N100 million that we cannot pay?”
The prelate told a press conference that the church paid the ransom in five sacks containing N20 million each.
He accused the federal and state governments and security agencies of abandoning him.
The payment of ransom followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent signing of the law incriminating it.
