Suspects in the abduction and murder of a Roman Catholic priest in Okpaga, Benue State have said that the priest was “destined for death”.
On Sunday, April 24, 2016, Rev. Father John Adeyi, the Catholic priest in charge of St. Bernard Catholic Church, Okpoga, Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State, was kidnapped around Okwungaga village in Okpokwu Local Government area of the state while returning from an outstation assignment.
The abductors demanded a ransom of N1.7 million and despite payment by the family of the priest the gang still went ahead to murder him. His body was found murdered two months after his abduction
The perpetrators have been caught by the policemen in the state. The leader of the group is identified as a 30-year-old Suleman Gina.
The others involved in the murder were Saidu Abdullahi, the deputy leader, Aliyu Garba, and Haruna Idi.
The suspects were arrested between September 1 and 14, 2016 in Bauchi, Enugu and Benue States.
Policemen in charge of the case, were led by the suspects to the bush in Orokam, where they hid the three guns used in perpetrating the act.
The suspects leader gave a confessional statement saying that Father Adeyi was “destined to die”.
“He did not do anything to us, and I think his death was destined,” Gina is quoted as saying.
“We killed him after collecting ransom from his family because vigilante and villagers were closing in on us, so we killed him.
“We collected the ransom and hid it in the bush in one of the villages instead of saving it in the bank. We don’t have anything else to say than to say sorry to the man’s family, and plead that the government have mercy on us”
