A 37-year-old pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All in Chikuba town in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, Reverend Jeremiah Ibrahim, has been killed by bandits.
Reports said that the victim was killed last Thursday when the assailants invaded his church.
The Secretary of the Minna District Council of ECWA, Reverend Adamu Na’Allah, disclosed this in Minna after the burial of the cleric.
He said Ibrahim was in Chikuba to harvest some crops from his farm in the village.
Ibrahim, who had earlier been transferred out of the town and replaced by another pastor, joined his successor for the harvest.
Before they could start the harvest, according to Na’Allah, the bandits came and attacked the clergy’s house.
It was gathered that the two pastors hid in the ceiling of the house and when they thought the coast was clear, came down. Unknown to them, the bandits were still around.
Ibrahim, who came down first, was said to have been killed by the bandits.
He said five others, all women, were abducted by the bandits, including the deceased’s wife.
It was gathered that the hoodlums had already demanded N50m for the release of the wife.
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Na’Allah said people in a neighboring Kuchi village were kidnapped by the same set of bandits, who later released five of them and killed one because the uniform of a vigilance group was found on him.
The bandits were also reported to have demanded N1.2m for the remaining victims.
The district secretary said another attack on the clergy house at Ka’ala village in Munya Local Government Area took place on Sunday night, but the resident reverend and his family had already left the building.
Asked if they reported the incident to the government, Na’Allah said they did not because previous complaints were not attended to.
The PUNCH
