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The Methodist Church in Nigeria has expressed sadness over the abduction of its Prelate, His Eminence Samuel Kalu Uche along with two other clerics on Sunday, describing it as sacrilegious and a national embarrassment.
The Presbyter, Wesley Cathedral, Umuahia, Very Rev. Aaron Akabuokwu made this known while speaking with journalists on the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the Church as the fate of the Prelate and others are still unknown.
“Everybody should know that the Methodist church in Nigeria is mourning, we are in a very sad mood because of the ugly incident that happened on the 29th of May 2023, it is a sacrilege, an abomination and height of national and international embarrassment,” he lamented.
The cleric said that churches since the incident happened had engaged in serious prayers asking for God’s intervention and believing that very soon both the prelate, bishop of Owerri Diocese, the chaplain and driver will be released safely.
The Prelate fell into the hands of evil men on Sunday when he was snatched by gunmen along Leru, Umunneochi axis of Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, within Abia State.
Aside the head of the Church, the Bishop of Owerri Diocese of the Methodist Church, Rt. Rev Dennis Mark, the Prelate’s Chaplain and the driver, whose names were not made known, were also taken hostage.
The men of God were said to be heading to the airport to board their flight to Lagos after a church programme at Isuochi in Umunneochi local government when the hoodlums descended on them and whisked them to unknown location.
“It is a sacrilege, abomination and the height of national and international embarrassment,” the Presbyter of Wesley Cathedral Umuahia said, adding that the news of the ugly incident hit them as “a rude shock.”
He noted that the kidnapping of the Prelate “goes to show how morally low people have gone in this nation (where) there is no regard for the sacred”, adding, “we are trusting that God will use what has happened to wake our leaders”.
According to him, if such a high profile religious person could be kidnapped then there is no hope for the ordinary man in Nigeria where security has taken flight and life has become brutish.
He stated that the axis of Okigwe, Ihube, Lokpanta cattle market and Isuochi have become den of kidnappers, who have consistently carried out their nefarious activities of kidnapping and demanding for ransom with brazen impunity.
The Presbyter therefore called on the governments of Abia and Imo States and security agencies to be proactive and device effective strategy to stamp out the evil men terrorising innocent people.