Gunmen kill clergyman in Kaduna, abduct wife

Hosea Akuchi, a pastor of a Baptist Church, Guguwa, Nasira, Igabi local government area of Kaduna state, was on Sunday killed while attempting to resist kidnappers.

The suspected bandits, however, abducted Talatu, the deceased’s wife, after killing the clergyman.

The incident was said to have occurred when the gunmen attacked the community.

Witness said the bandits arrived the community around 1am and forced their way into the apartment of the clergyman after shooting sporadically in the air.

“The gunmen came at about 1am; I don’t know how many of them but they were shooting sporadically. We thought they were armed robbers, everybody was scared,” he said.

“They wanted to kidnap the pastor, but he was resisting them by struggling with them and they shot him. After killing him, they went away with his wife.”

Yakubu Sabo, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, confirmed the incident, saying the clergyman was shot while struggling with his attackers whose intention may be to abduct him.

“In the early hours of this morning, information reaching us that some armed men storm the house of Reverend Hosea and attempted to kidnap him,” he said.

“But after struggling with them, they shot him and took away his wife. It is quite unfortunate that while we are keeping the peace we are enjoying in Kaduna, some criminals are doing this to sabotage our collective efforts.

“We have visited the scene of the unfortunate incident and we are trying our best to get to the root of this incident and as soon as we get more information, I will get back to you” the police spokesman said in a telephone interview.”