A resident pastor of the Living Faith Church, Jeremiah Omolara, Romi New Extension, in Kaduna State has been killed while his wife was abducted by unknown gunmen in Kaduna state on Sunday August 4th.
The clergyman, his wife and son were driving along the Kaduna-Abuja Road when they were intercepted by gunmen who opened fire on their vehicle, killing the pastor on the spot. The gunmen later took the wife into the bush. The son was able to flee the scene of the incident unhurt.
Confirming the incident, the chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Joseph Hayab, said the killing of the pastor and the abduction of his wife was sad and devastating.
Decrying the spates of abduction in Kaduna and environs, Reverend Hayab said last Thursday August 1st, unknown gunmen attacked the parish priest of Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru Local Government Area, at his resident and a security guard was killed.
“In the same Kaduna LGA, a 13-year-old daughter of a Baptist pastor was abducted, as I speak with you now, she is still with the kidnappers and they are demanding for a large sum of money. In Kudandan, in one of our churches called friendship international, gunmen broke into the pastor’s house and took him away. As at Friday, the kidnappers were asking us to pay N4 million or we should not call them again.
”Now the Living Faith Church pastor was abducted along Kaduna-Abuja and was killed while his wife was abducted. That tells you that the new trend is to attack us in our homes or in our churches or on the roads.
”We are just not safe anywhere and we asked the same question we have been asking; where are our security agencies? Are we being told tactically that we should defend ourselves? If we start defending ourselves, it means that we no longer have security or we no longer have government. Or is this government only for those they love and they don’t care about others?
“We feel strongly that the federal government and the Inspector General of Police should do something about Kaduna, since we have a governor who does not listen and feels he knows everything but sadly, there is nothing to show about what he knows. Even after the killing of the security guards of the parish priest, we heard that he called the priest; is it calling the victims that we want or addressing the security challenges.
”If you speak to me as Rev. Hayab when criminals attack me, what help have you done to me? You are not helping to stop the attack. So we are really concerned and concerned that people, especially clergies in Kaduna are no longer safe. We don’t want a situation where we will be forced to think of how to protect ourselves, we believe that government is there to protect us” he said
The abductors of the wife of the deceased clergyman are reportedly demanding a ransom of N50m for her release.
