Archbishop Henry Ndakuba on Friday announced that kidnapped Anglican priest Edwin Achi had been murdered by his abductors, a month after he was kidnapped from his home in the state of Kaduna and held for ransom.
“With profound sorrow, we announce the tragic death of our beloved priest… who was brutally murdered after enduring a month-long abduction,” Ndakuba said in his statement on Friday.
Venerable Edwin Achi hailed from the town of Umaaja in Delta State, but made his home in Kaduna, where he oversaw the Ebenezer Anglican Church. He was kidnapped, along with his wife Sarah and their daughter, by a squad of “gunmen” who invaded his home on October 28.
The abductors demanded a ransom of 600 million Nigerian naira (about $415,000 in U.S. dollars) from Achi’s family. When the family said it could not pay, the ransom was reduced to 200 million naira, which was still an unobtainable amount.
The kidnappers apparently killed Achi because the ransom was not paid. His wife and daughter remain in captivity, their fates unknown. A few days before Achi’s death, the kidnappers released a photo of him and Sarah, along with several other Christian hostages.
“In the photo released by the kidnappers, other innocent victims are also seen, showing this is not an isolated attack but part of a growing wave of insecurity,” Harrison Gwamnishu of the Safe City Foundation, a Nigerian volunteer association dedicated to public safety, told the Christian Post on Friday.
“I am calling on the federal government, the Kaduna state government and all relevant security agencies to act swiftly and decisively. This situation is unacceptable. Every day these victims remain in captivity is another day of trauma and uncertainty for their families and communities. The government must intervene immediately to secure their safe release,” Gwamnishu said.
The church made no comment about the manner of Achi’s death, but family sources told Nigeria’s Punch newspaper that efforts to recover his body were underway.
“His corpse is at the morgue as we speak. We are preparing to take his remains home for final interment. No date has been fixed yet, but the church is doing everything possible to take the corpse home,” a source close to the Achi family told Punch.
The Nigerian police do not appear to have any idea where Achi and his family were held, or who kidnapped them.
Nigerian Christians have been hit by a wave of kidnappings and deadly attacks on churches ever since President Donald Trump spoke out against “Christian genocide” and threatened to send in American troops.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu initially denied there was any campaign of organized violence against Christians — and later announced a massive buildup of police forces in response to growing domestic and international pressure. Tinubu declared a “state of national emergency” on Friday.
Ndukuba said on Monday it was “not enough to declare a state of emergency,” and it was time to “put our foot on the ground and do the needful.”
“When those who are sponsoring the insecurity in our land are dealt with, if the courts of Nigeria cannot handle them, let them be taken to the international criminal courts in Hague. Time has come when somebody must pay a price for what is happening,” he said.
Ndukuba was skeptical of Tinubu’s plan to reduce insecurity by allowing Nigerian states to raise their own police forces.
“Who are those that will operate those state police? If those in leadership have not really loved the people that they are leading, and they are just fomenting trouble in order to make their own selfish gains, how shall we have peace?” he asked.
Governors from Nigeria’s 19 northern states — the area most prone to experiencing jihadi violence — held an emergency meeting in Kaduna on Monday to address rising insecurity, kidnapping, and bandit attacks. The spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, was also in attendance.
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