Armed kidnappers have abducted a popular television preacher and motivational speaker, Rev. Mike Ochigbo, in Adamawa State.
Also, another pastor, John Moses, was kidnapped in the state at about the same time.
It was gathered that the gunmen kidnapped, Ochigbo, the General Overseer of Freedom Power Chapel, at his residence in Nyibango on Wednesday.
The residence of the pastor was invaded around 2 am and he was whisked away by the gunmen after shooting sporadically, a source said anonymously.
Recall that a pastor, Hinjari Yoila, was killed in the area earlier in the year, therefore, drawing attention to the plights of residents with military authorities setting up a checkpoint there.
Confirming the incident, the police image maker for the Adamawa State Command, SP Suleiman Nguroje, assured that the clerics will return to their loved ones safely as men of the command have been deployed to rescue them.
He said the state Commissioner of Police, CP Afolabi Babatola, has deployed operatives of the command drawn from the Special Rapid Response Team, Crack Squad and other Tactical Squads to carry out tactical and intelligence-driven operations on criminal hideouts and black spots to rescue the victims.
In another development, the last two schoolgirls abducted from the Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri (FGC) by terrorists have regained their freedom after 707 days in captivity.
The two girls namely Faida Sani Kaoje and Safiya Idris were released in the early hours of Thursday.
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According to the report, they were released after intensive negotiations by a special committee set up by their families and well-wishers, with the leadership of the bandits to ensure quick release from their captors.
Dogo Gide, a notorious bandit kingpin, had insisted that some conditions must be met by the Kebbi State Government before the remaining girls can regain their freedom.
On April 22, 2023, four Yauri female students with two babies were released after payments of a huge ransom to Dogo Gide were made.
On May 7, three other girls namely, Elizabeth Ogechi Nwafor, Esther Sunday and Aliya Abubakar, regained their freedom from their captors.
A source explained that the release of the abducted girls was effected after a huge ransom was generated by their parents and other stakeholders when the Kebbi State Government was reluctant to meet the bandits’ demands.
According to him, “The parents had to beg Nigerians to come to their aid financially in order to rescue their children from their abductors.”
He added that in a letter addressed to Nigerians in January 2023, the group known as “Committee of Parents of 11 Abducted Students of FGC Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, Nigeria,” solicited financial assistance towards raising the sum of N100 million as ransom to be paid to the terrorists, in exchange for their wards.
Salim Ka’oje and Mr. Daniel Alkali, the chairman and Secretary of the ‘Committee of Parents, explained that their female children (aged between 12-16 years) had been in the custody of their abductors for about 20 months now.
Eleven girls were abducted from the school in June 2021.