Parish Priest of Onitsha-Enugu Parish, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, Enugu State, Rev. Father Chijioke Amoke, has been kidnapped.
He was reportedly kidnapped at the gate of the Parish House on Wednesday by a gang of hoodlums, who also shot dead a police officer in their escape bid. The kidnappers have since contacted their victim’s associate demanding N10 million ransom.
Narrating the incident, Rev. Fr. Simon Ukwueze told NESWMEN that his colleague was abducted while trying to enter his house on the fateful day.
According to him, Amoke was honking his horn at the gate to enter the Parish house when suddenly a black jeep emerged and started shooting indiscriminately into the air.
He disclosed that parishioners, who tried to raise alarm, were chased away by the kidnappers who threatened to shoot them if they made any noise.
Ukwueze said the kidnappers took the priest away in their car to an unknown destination, adding that on Thursday, the kidnappers, who claimed to be university graduates, reached him (Ukwueze) on his cell-phone to demand N10 million ransom.
According to Ukwueze, the hoodlums warned that if the amount was not brought, they would kill their victim.
“Since then, they have been calling intermittently, threatening to kill Father Amoke if I did not provide the ransom. But I told them the stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference on kidnap of a cleric is that no ransom should be paid and the diocese has no provision for ransom,” he said.
Family home of the abducted priest and her sister said she had no information as to what the kidnappers were demanding, but confirmed that her brother was kidnapped. Fr. Amoke is the 12th Catholic Priest to be kidnapped since the advent of kidnapping in the country.
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