Gunmen on Tuesday abducted four Catholic priests between Agbor and Umutu in Ukwani Local Government Area of Delta State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the priests were on their way to Uhielle in Ekpoma, Edo State, for an alumni meeting when they were kidnapped by the gunmen.
A source identified the victims as Rev Frs Victor Adigboluja of the Ijebu Ode diocese; Anthony Otegbola, Abeokuta Diocese; Joseph Ediae, Benin Archdiocese; and Emmanuel Obadjere, Warri Diocese.
Another account stated that the priests were returning from their annual class meeting that took place in Warri on Monday and Tuesday to mark their 10th priestly ordination.
They were said to be on the way to the seminary of All Saints, Uhiele-Ekpoma, to celebrate with the seminary community when the gunmen waylaid them and took them away.
The Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police Command, DSP Andrew Aniamaka, confirmed the kidnap, but did not give further details.
Aniamaka said it had not beenascertained if the victims were kidnapped in Delta State or at Urhonigbe in neighbouring Edo State, adding that the command was intensifying efforts to unravel the circumstances of the kidnap.
The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr Muhammad Mustafa, later confirmed the abduction of the priests to PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, and gave an assurance that they would be rescued.
One of our correspondents gathered that vehicles conveying the priests had been recovered by a team of anti-kidnapping policemen drafted from Delta and Edo states.
Meanwhile, the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has condemned alleged the kidnap of the four Catholic priests by herdsmen in Delta State.
In a statement made available by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Terver Akase, on Wednesday, Ortom described the abduction of the priests as “barbaric, dehumanising and shameful.”
The statement quoted the governor to have wondered why armed herdsmen had chosen to make harmless clergymen targets of attacks, and stressed that the motive of the perpetrators was more than mere grazing of cattle.
The governor said the people of Benue State were still mourning the killing of two Catholic priests and 17 worshippers by herdsmen in Mbalom, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State earlier this year.
He urged the security agencies to act swiftly to ensure the release of the kidnapped priests in Delta State.
Ortom called on Nigerians to rise in condemnation of persistent attacks on innocent people, particularly the current spate of violence against the clergy.
The governor stated that the resolve of herdsmen to sack communities and claim ancestral land belonging to the people was threatening the existence of Nigeria.
He warned that if not checked, the activities of armed herdsmen would affect the smooth conduct of the 2019 elections in parts of the country.
Ortom said the government and people of Benue State were standing in prayers with the Catholic dioceses of Benin, Warri, Ijebu Ode and Abuja, where the four abducted priests came from.
In another development, a brother of the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Matthew Kolawole, his wife and two others were reportedly abducted on Monday on the Oshokoshoko-Kabba Road by hoodlums, who appeared in army and police uniforms.
This was made known on the floor of the state House of Assembly on Tuesday following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by the Speaker.
He, however, did not reveal details of the kidnapping and if contact had been made with the family.
Consequently, the House called on the state government to intervene and quickly arrest the resurgence of high-level kidnapping and armed robbery on the Lokoja-Obajana, Oshokoshoko-Kabba and other roads in the state.
The House also urged the state government to help equip the police with more high-tech communication and security gadgets to enhance crime detection and prevention in the state.
The motion, which was presented by Oluwatoyin Lawal (PDP, Yagba West) on behalf of the Speaker, drew the attention of the state government to the resurgence of criminal activities in the state.
The motion urged security agencies, especially the police, to up their game in ensuring security of lives and property in the state, adding that more security personnel should be deployed to flashpoints.
Seconding the motion, Musa Omiata (APC, Yagba East) said in the past, Kogi was home to armed robbers and kidnappers.
He added that the intervention of the state government through equipping the police and other security agencies brought relative peace, making the state to become one of the most peaceful in the country.
Omiata, however, regretted the resurgence of criminal activities in the state in the last two months, saying the Egbe-Isanlu and Obajana-Kabba roads had become robbers’ dens again.
Supporting the motion, Edoko Moses-Ododo recounted how last week at Ojodu on the Itobe-Anyigba road in the Ofu Local Government Area of the state, motorists were robbed and kidnapped in broad daylight.
The Deputy Speaker, Hassan Abdullahi, urged security agencies to wake up to their responsibility of securing lives and property, and argued that rather than concentrating on major roads, the security agents should be deployed in lonely roads.