They worked tirelessly to ensure his safe return even paying a whopping N500,000 ransom price, but for the Iwuala family, all hope of securing their loved one’s freedom died as they picked up the lifeless body of Anslem Iwuala.
Late Iwuala, a devoted cleric, was on returning home when he was abducted along the busy Okpala-Mbaise road in Imo state. Greiving loved ones said the deceased was returning to his country home in the Aboh Mbaise LGA from Aba state when kidnappers snatched him.
Odinakachi Iwuala, Pastor Anslem’s cousin, said the family did everything possible to reach the deceased after he failed to return home. They were soon contacted by the kidnappers at about midnight on the same day of the abduction, with demands of N100 million.
The late pastor’s cousin revealed that the hoodlums admitted to being sent to assassinate the pastor, but promised to spare his life if they paid the hefty ransom.
They could not afford the N100 million ransom demanded, but the Iwuala family struggled to pay the sum of N500,000 to the kidnappers.
“We all thought that our prayers had been answered until we received a telephone call from his abductors to rush down to Okpala but what we saw was his corpse,” Odinakachukwu lamented.
Kidnapping is big business in Africa’s most populous nation. While kidnap is perpetrated in the northern end of the country for more ideological reasons, in Nigeria’s south lives are taken to extort money. While most victims make it home alive, many are killed by their kidnappers.
Imo state police officers have assured that they are working to capture the perpetrators of the horrid crime.
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