Army To Meet Methodist Prelate Over Indictment Of Troops

The Nigerian Army has said it will interface with the abducted Methodist Church Prelate, His Eminence Samuel Kanu-Uche over the indictment of soldiers in his kidnap.

The cleric had alleged after his release that troops were involved in kidnap activities in the Southeast.

The Prelate, in an interview, after his release, said his Church paid to secure his freedom.

He said the church paid N100m to the abductors to secure his release.

The cleric revealed that the Nigerian Army based in Lomara is working in cohorts with the “Fulani kidnappers” that abducted him in Umunneochi, Abia State.

But the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, said the Army will meet with the Prelate to uncover the circumstances surrounding his abduction.

According to him, while the Army expresses concern and sympathy for the victim of this heinous crime and shares in his pains, “the insinuation that troops are complicit in the kidnap incident is not entirely premised on any findings of investigations and therefore cannot be swallowed hook line and sinker.

“This allegation therefore raises some pertinent questions which are still unanswered”.

He added: “Given our professional disposition and zero tolerance for any misconduct in the Nigerian Army , we will take this weighty allegation seriously and approach the Prelate and the Methodist church to unravel the basis for the allegation”.

Nwachukwu said given the spate of insecurity in the region, the question to ask will be “was the issue reported to the unit covering the area? Did the Methodist Church take the NA into confidence while negotiating the ransom with the kidnappers?

“No formal complaint has been received by the unit. More worrisome is the fact that it was alleged that the ransom was paid in less than 24 hours. Was the ransome paid to troops? These are questions that beg for answers.

“Moreso, the NA unit, has not received any debrief from the Prelate or the Methodist Church.

“It is therefore, important to state that troops are deployed at Forward Operating Base(FOB) Okigwe and in front of the Abia State University Uturu and no information was made available to them or to 14 Brigade or any other formation, except the information making the rounds in the social media.

“It must be clarified that troops’ deployment in the Nigerian Army is not done with considerations for ethnic affiliation, hence a deployment of troops of Fulani ethnic extraction who as alleged by the Prelate, carried out the dastardly act is not our practice or modus operandi in the Nigerian Army”.