₦airaland Forum

The acting Chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, says some Senior Advocates of Nigeria have been frustrating the anti-corruption war by knowingly supplying the technical know-how and helping in the dispersal of the proceeds of crime.

Without mentioning any specific names, Magu said a particular senior advocate received N1.7bn in legal fees from a corrupt politician without a qualm.

He said the same senior advocate received N300m from a governor in the South-South as legal fees for an election petition case and failed to pay tax but quickly took advantage of the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme when he realised he was under probe.

The EFCC boss said this in a piece titled, ‘Need for Ethical Reforms as NBA Conference Begins.’

The piece was written to coincide with the annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, which begins in Abuja on Monday (today).

Magu said, “It is personally disheartening to see lawyers who invest their talents and expertise in advancing the cause of corrupt politicians and public officials. It is amazing that a senior lawyer can accept professional fees of N1.7bn from a politician without scruples!

“The same lawyer with a turnover of N3, 765,414,995.24 only paid valued added tax of N7, 051,928.24. The N300m cash payment which the senior lawyer received from a South-South state government in an election petition matter in 2016 was never captured in his tax submissions to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

“Yet when he got wind of EFCC investigation, he was quick to take advantage of the VAIDS window as cover to shield himself from the commission’s dragnet.”

The EFCC boss said another senior advocate evaded taxes running into billions of naira but paid only a fraction of the amount.

“Another senior lawyer who is quick to advertise himself as the nemesis of the EFCC, has a turnover of over N5.1bn with an assessed total tax liability of over a billion naira between 2010 and 2017. Sadly, he merely declared a meagre N8m as gross earnings for 2014 and 2015, and N10m for 2016,” Magu said.

The EFCC boss said there was a need for lawyers to demand to know the sources of income of their clients before receiving any money.

He appealed to lawyers to put the interest of Nigeria ahead of any other monetary consideration.

Magu added, “While we are mindful of the fact that there may be more than one side to a situation which equally deserves of robust presentation and defence, we believe that no matter the positions we take on any issue, Nigeria should come first.”

I don't like people who don't finish what they start
Holla when you get it.

Some people are seriously performing an unfinished miracle.. let me know when you see it different color one people � in lucky dube’s voice pls is that a smoked fish ?

President Muhammadu Buhari’s 800-metre walk and the Presidency’s claim that the exercise means he’s physically fit to rule for another four years, has raised questions about the President’s health status again, Olalekan Adetayo reports

Watchers of political events in the country do not need a soothsayer to know that the state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari will be a major campaign issue ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

Buhari’s health issue came up very early in the life of his administration when he started embarking on trips to London, United Kingdom to see his medical doctors.

The 75-year-old Nigerian leader had between February 5 and 10, 2016, less than a year after he took his oath of office, embarked on a six-day vacation to London. Four months later, specifically on June 6, 2016, he embarked on another 10-day vacation to attend to an ear infection.

His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had explained then that the retired military general was battling with what he called “persistent ear infection.” Buhari returned to Nigeria on June 19, 2016 after spending 14 days in London.

Exactly seven months after, he again left the country on January 19, 2017 on what the Presidency described then as medical vacation.

When the trip was prolonged, presidential aides announced that the President would be staying back in the British capital to enable him to collect results of some medical tests he did. Buhari returned to the country on March 10, 2017 after a 49-day medical sojourn, looking frail. He personally admitted that he had never been that sick in his life.

After missing public events, including three consecutive weekly Federal Executive Council meetings which raised anxiety in the country, Buhari on May 7, 2017 returned to London for medical consultation.

He returned to the country on August 19, 2017. That was after some Nigerians protested both in Abuja and London, demanding that he either returned to the country or resigned.

Although not as bad as that of 2017, Buhari had also at various times this year had causes to travel out of the country to see his doctors many times.

On his way back from Washington D.C where he met the United States President, Donald Trump, in April, the President reportedly seized the opportunity of the technical stop-over for aircraft maintenance in London to meet with his doctor who asked him to return on a later date.

Based on this, Buhari on May 8, 2018 again embarked on another medical trip to the UK. He returned to the country on May 11.

The latest of his London trips was the 10 working days holiday Buhari again embarked upon from August 3, 2018. He remained in London where his doctors are based throughout the vacation. He returned to the warm reception of his supporters and government officials last Saturday.

A school of thought believes that Buhari’s state of health, particularly his frequent absence from the country, has been giving some power brokers popularly referred to in political circle as cabal members the needed tonic to hijack the government and take critical decisions in the President’s name.

The cabal members are probably those the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, referred to when he said some individuals had constituted themselves into “government within government” in the country. The manner in which the former Director-General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, sent officials of the DSS to the National Assembly while Buhari was away without the permission of the then acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, readily comes to mind.

It is therefore understandable that political opponents will want to make political gains from Buhari’s frequent London shuttles.

Taking the lead in this regard is the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal. The governor had last week claimed that Buhari was too old to rule the country beyond 2019.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is just too old to be Nigeria’s leader, despite his integrity and impeccable character…We all know that there is a vacuum in the government occasioned by his indisposition probably because of his old age or health condition. That is why Nigerians are yearning for younger ones to lead this country,” the governor who is believed to be interested in taking over Buhari’s job had said.

Surprisingly, the Presidency did not react formally to Tambuwal’s statement. But an opportunity presented itself on Tuesday not only to react to the governor’s claim but also to prove that the President is fit for second term in office.

After taking part in the Eid-el Kabir prayers at the praying ground in Daura, his hometown, Buhari decided to trek to his private residence. The Presidency put the distance at 800 metres.

The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, saw the “feat” as an opportunity to reply Tambuwal.

“I think the President has done one thing today – that the issue is not how old one is but how fit he is; how healthy he is. Now that the President has proven his fitness and well-being, to continue in office is a settled matter. I think that if people want to campaign against him they should do so on issues that are of significance to Nigerians. The President is fit, he is healthy; he is good to go for second term,” he said.

Casual walking does not translate to medical fitness -NMA boss

Was Shehu right in his submission that the President’s much-publicised 800 metres trek was a proof that he is fit enough to rule for another four years despite his recent health challenges? The President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Francis Faduyile, gave a broad medical expert’s opinion on the issue. Faduyile told our correspondent on the telephone that casual walking alone was not enough to declare somebody medically fit.

He said Buhari’s trekking and the translation given to it could however be taken socially to mean that some people believed that the President was too weak to perform such task and he beat their imagination with his performance.

“Casual walking does not translate to medical fitness. There are so many things that are involved in determining the fitness of anybody at any given time. It will be nice for a normal structured medical fitness test to be done for us to be able to declare someone medically fit. However, for social issue, anybody who is walking and is agile could be taken as being fit. If that is what that trekking of 800 metres has done, maybe it can be taken socially. Some people may believe that His Excellency may be too weak to be able to walk for that much and it may be something that beat their imagination that he has walked that distance. But medically, it does not translate to fitness nor does it say he is not fit,” the NMA boss explained.

Nigeria’s problems can’t be solved by trekking skill -Afenifere

The spokesman for the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, is also of the view that celebrating a 800-metre walk can be an indication that there is something wrong.

According to Odumakin, the ability to trek is not one of the characteristics of the leader Nigeria needs at the moment. Instead, he said the country was in dire need of a competent person that can fix its many problems.

He said, “When your dad begins to ask you that ‘do you know I am your dad?’ then something is wrong. When anybody has to do 800 metres walk to convince us that he is fit, it is most likely that the person is unfit. Even if we assume that 800 metres walk is a proof that one is fit, what Nigeria needs today is not about 800 metres walk. It is about being mentally fit, intellectually fit and being competent to run the affairs of the country. If trekking is all we need for somebody to rule Nigeria, then we can pick one of the herdsmen taking cows from Maiduguri to Ibadan. They trek thousands of kilometres daily, so it is not about trekking. It is about being able to push the development of Nigeria, it is about fixing the country and putting the country together. It is about putting an end to the ongoing killings, it is about rebooting our economy to create jobs for the unemployed in order to ease the stress in the land. So, if in the midst of all we are as a country, what anybody can flaunt is about walking 800 metres, I think the person has no business in governance at all.”

Nigeria’s Presidency has been trivialised -Adokeme

From the point of view of a public affairs analyst, Chief Chris Adokeme, saying that the President is fit to contest just because he could trek 800 metres is like trivialising the country’s Presidency.

Adokeme, who is the National President of the University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association, told our correspondent that if the objective of the Presidency was to show that Buhari was medically fit, the right thing to do is to produce his medical certificate.

He said, “I do not know what the people who propounded that theory aimed to achieve, but for me, it just goes to show how much the Presidency of this country has been cheapened. The Presidency has been so trivialised and that is the only reason anyone would say because the man was able to trek 800 metres, that makes him fit to contest election. If their objective is to show that our President is medically fit, which I do not doubt, the simple thing to do is to produce his medical certificate. He goes for test regularly abroad, let them show medical evidence to the effect that he is medically fit.

“It doesn’t take all this 800 metres trekking stuff to make that point. The President is not the only one who can trek 800 metres. If that is all it takes, then it means almost everyone in Nigeria will be able to contest Presidency, including those our Constitution says are not qualified to run on the grounds of age. I think people should be more serious about such matters. The Presidency of Nigeria is not a kindergarten affair where you show medical fitness by merely trekking 800 metres. They may have a good point, but they should not spoil their good point with their kindergarten joke.”

The National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, had in an interview with THE PUNCH said he found the presidential aide’s claim on Buhari’s 800 metres walk as absurd. Secondus wondered why “a mere walk” would become a yardstick to measure performance and readiness to lead a nation as big and as sophisticated as Nigeria.

He said, “When does a mere walk become readiness of someone to lead? Why celebrating a mere walk of 800 metres? Was the President on a wheel chair before? Why treat him like a child who was just learning how to walk? Is Nigeria or are Nigerians looking for walkers to lead them or someone who has the capacity to lead and tackle their problems? Now, is that what Nigeria has become? Just that someone claimed he walked 800 metres, he is good to go. When he was younger about two or three years ago, we saw his capacity. Is it now that he is old, hardly reads and hardly grants interviews that he would do better? No, tell them that what we need is not what he is offering us. Nigerians deserve more and he needs to do more to convince us that he can lead for the next four years.”

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is on the same page with his party’s chairman on the matter. Abubakar, who is a PDP presidential aspirant, said there was a difference between “walk and work.”

He said while he jogs more than a mile during his exercise, it would be too pedestrian of him to ask Nigerians to vote for him because of that.

“I regularly jog more than a mile and exercise, but it will be pedestrian of me to ask Nigerians to vote for me because of that. I want my party – the PDP, and Nigerians, to vote for me because I work not because I walk. I will work to create jobs. I won’t walk to create an illusion.”

As the 2019 general elections draw nearer, more politicians will still come up with more ‘innovations’ aimed at presenting themselves as being ahead of their opponents.

However, only time will tell if such ingenuities will be potent enough to attract more votes for them.

Coming head on with some of nature’s toughest elements, female sailors told Toluwalope Kareem the dangers they deal with on daily basis in the line of duty

There are few people in the world today that can boast of fulfilling their childhood dream. One of such persons is Titlayo Aderemi, a 32-year-old sea farer. Now a captain of a big vessel, she has been embarking on dangerous journeys across different waters over the last 10 years in the course of doing her job as a sailor. For her, embarking on such risk is more than a dream come true even though her father always wanted her to be a medical doctor. She lives every moment, grateful to God for the grace to achieve such feat.

“Being a sailor is more than a dream coming true for me,” she told our correspondent during a recent encounter. “As a child, I remember always acting like a captain while playing with my sisters. We would hold our waists tightly pretending to be on a ship and sailing. We would even make sounds with our mouths to make it look like we were on the sea. It was fun back then but I never knew this was indeed what God wanted me to do. I am happy to have been able to achieve this,” she added quickly.

But as happy as Aderemi is, working on the sea these past 10 years has not been completely smooth. In different forms and sizes, the young lady has come up against all sorts of dangers – some enough to frighten even a heart made of steel out of the profession.

“My eyes have indeed seen a lot of evils on the sea,” she said. “Though there is so much fun working on a ship, the dangers can many times scare you back to land.

“My first trial was an oil tanker vessel; I had to join the ship at sea. We were conveyed by a speed boat to the vessel and I had to climb a scaler. That was where I became scared.

“Another thing was that I was the only female among about 20 men in the first two vessels I worked with. Though the men saw me as one of them, there were times I would get scared by the fact that I was the only female among them. It was a very tough period for me.

“There were times I felt really depressed and wished I could run home. The thought of not seeing my loved ones again often created fear in me in those periods. These were times that the sound of the sea created fear in you.

“Apart from the fury of the sea, there is also the menace of pirates on water. I remember a particular day when our ship was hijacked by these bad guys. I was scared and hid in the toilet for more than 48 hours. I thought I was going to die that day. Eventually, we were freed from their hands.

“During rainy season, the sea is usually very rough and the ship stands the risk of falling overboard if not careful.

“There is also the issue of fire outbreak or the vessel hitting a rock and tearing underneath. The truth is that the sea is a very harsh place and one has to be fully aware and alert at all times so as to avert disaster,” she explained.

Though now married, Capt. Aderemi told Saturday PUNCH that one of the low sides of being a female seafarer is the difficulty in keeping a stable relationship. According to her, many ladies doing her kind of job usually find it tough maintaining relationships that can lead to marriage as a result of their long period away from home.

“As a result of our kind of job, we are usually away from home for a long period of time. “Before I got married last year, keeping a serious and stable relationship was usually very difficult. Whenever I tried to get involved in any relationship, they gave excuses that they wouldn’t be able to cope because they wouldn’t see me for a long period of time. It was quite tough.”

When asked how she has been able to balance her home with her job now, she said, “It’s not been easy. For now, I have been at sea for two months but while I was single, I used to stay longer. However, because of my husband, I try to go home every two months to be with him.

“There are days I really miss him and wish to hear his voice but due to poor connectivity at sea, it is difficult to make calls and browse the Internet.

“However, whenever I get the opportunity, I call him or we do video chat. Whenever I am not able to reach him, I just pray for his safety before going to bed. It is only by God’s grace that one can keep a stable home with this kind of job we do,” she said.

Like Aderemi, Capt. Sylvia Okafor is another young lady that has chosen the dangerous route of ekeing out a living on sea. A graduate of Biochemistry, she abandoned her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut to pursue a career in seafaring when she realised she wasn’t very good at physics – one of the key requirements for fulfilling such pursuit. Though she has since embraced her new life on water, the dangers, she reckoned, sometimes strike fear into her heart.

“I was inspired to take up this career path after coming in contact with one Indian captain while on training during a scholarship programme.


“My experience on water has been tough. I get a lot of discouragement from people, they tell me I am into a job that should be for men. Many of such persons have tried to talk me out of the job but I don’t listen to them.

“When going offshore, I always prepare myself for the dangers that are likely to occur. Most people say to me that I am brave and that is because I don’t think of the negative part.

“I am more optimistic. There was a time I was going offshore and the sea was very high, we just had to cope. A lot of people threw up and all. I had sea sickness drugs with me, so I used them and felt better.

“The truth is that due to the kind of job I do, it has not been easy for me to keep a stable relationship. Trying to start something has been a little bit challenging but I know that I will definitely find my husband one day.

“The last few years have been filled with dangers and uncertainty in every sense especially considering the type of job I do,” she said.

If not for the priceless support of her husband, Engr. Bassey Esiri’s life could have been more complicated today going by the kind of danger she faces while sailing on sea. On board for most part of the year, the mother of two has learnt to reduce her time away from home at a stretch to only one month these days. According to her, this new strategy has helped her recover well from the strain of working on deep and stormy waters that has been a staple of her job as seafarer.

“I came into this job wanting to prove to not a few people and indeed the world that women can succeed in this very difficult terrain.

“I was almost discouraged by some people while I was coming into the profession but I soon made up my mind that it was what I wanted to do. Even my husband didn’t like the idea at the time as a result of the dangers associated with the job.

“However, with time he supported me and today, he is one of my biggest fans. In fact, he takes care of the home whenever I am away at sea coming up against all sorts of risks.

“There are days that the storm would be so harsh that we would all fear that the ship was going to capsize and sink. Though I have never encountered pirates on sea before, I have faced all manner of uncertain situation while on water. It is by God’s grace that we come out of such situations at times,” she said.

Lured into the profession by her brother, Aliya Badejo, an engineer, has had a thrilling eight years on sea. Though Computer Engineering was her passion until seafaring was introduced to her, she has not had any reason to regret so far apart from the occasional fear that envelopes her when face to face with danger on sea. While narrating her experience in a recent chat with Saturday PUNCH, the 33-year-old described the journey so far as one filled with pains and gains.

“My experience as a female sailor has been wonderful,” she said. “But when you look at the discrimination from people and dangers we sometimes face while on sea, you’ll know that it’s not all rosy.

“We face a lot of discrimination. Some feel threatened because we are females; they expect us to be in the kitchen or at home. They try to bring you down by all means because you are a female in the profession.

“When you go to some companies, despite seeing all your certification, they still treat you badly. This shouldn’t be this way.

“As a person, I have never been scared of water. I wasn’t nervous on my first trial because it was already part of my training. But there have been situations that have really shaken one’s spirit in the course of this journey.

“There was a time pirates attacked our ship and we had to hide at a very dangerous part of the ship where the blade of the engine compartment could have sliced us to pieces. We thought we were going to die but the Navy rescued us.”

Like the others before her, the Ogun State-born lady confirmed that it was almost like a tug of war keeping a stable relationship while working on sea.

“It is really tough,” she explained. “You meet good guys but before long their patience wanes. They feel you are just wasting their time especially when you can’t see each other for months.

“I have lost quite a few relationships this way but I am hoping for things to change soon because I know I am not getting younger. Money is not the issue; the problem is having the time to keep the fire of such feeling burning. For many of us in this profession, it is indeed a tough life,” she added.

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, presidential aspirants under the different political parties have reeled out some of the tactics they plan to employ to unseat the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari.

In separate interviews with our correspondents during the week, the aspirants said contrary to the belief that only the big parties stand a better chance of winning the election, they were in the race to win, adding that Nigerians were tired of the big players in the country’s political space.

A presidential aspirant under the Young Progressive Party and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, said the party would work with others and persuade Nigerians to vote out Buhari in 2019.

He said, “I am in the race for the presidency based on a vision I have for my country, which is one of nation-building to create a united country that works for all of us. I want to provide leadership that is beyond mere politics, establish an educational system fit for purpose in the 21st century for our kids, and create.

“Nigerian security outfits are protecting regimes and not Nigerians. This government is very subversive and has no respect for the rule of law. This is an invitation to anarchy. Buhari must go and Nigerians will reject him through the ballot.”

Similarly, a presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party, Prof. Olufunmilayo Adesanya-Davies, said she was confident she would employ a populist approach to raise money to fund her campaign. She added that it was time women took more active role in governance at national level.


She noted that as an academic, she had understudied the country and had solutions to its challenges.

According to her, many people have shown support for her aspirations, adding that she will galvanise more Nigerians to actualise her aspiration of being the country’s next president.

She added, “Absolutely, I know it is possible for me to beat President Muhammadu Buhari because Nigerians are tired of his government and they are fed up with the empty promises that they made that they will bring a change. It is time to effect the real change, different from what the APC is doing. It is time we had a woman as the president of this country; we need serious change.”

Some of the aspirants, whose parties had joined the Coalition of United Political Parties, said they were confident that if they emerge as the consensus candidate of the CUPP, unseating Buhari would not be a difficult task.

An aspirant under the KOWA Party, Mr. Ayo Lijadu, said if he emerges as the candidate of the CUPP, it would give him a better platform to win the election, in spite of the dominance of the two political parties.

He said, “The reality is that it is not easy to dislodge an incumbent president, especially given the larger than life image and resources available to the party in power, but the strategy is the bonding together of parties that are like-minded in their objective to dislodge the government that has been rejected by the people.

“That strategy is the most effective; when over 40 political parties, including the disgruntled members of the ruling party, bond together to produce a single presidential candidate. Some of these parties have structure all over the country, so it is wise that we all come together. My party is part of the CUPP and that strategy will work.”

When asked on his plans for funding, he said, “By the time we have a single presidential candidate, the task of sourcing for funds would not be left to that individual candidate or their party, because there is an understanding that all the parties will come together to support, and it’s not just material or structural support, funding support would also come into place.

Also, an aspirant under the platform of the National Conscience Party, Mr. Martin Onovo, told Saturday PUNCH that he was confident he would emerge as the consensus candidate of the CUPP.

This, he said would help him to win the election, adding that it was unlike in the past when money had a role to play in determining the outcome of the presidential election.

Onovo said, “It is very clear that the coalition is going to produce me. It is not confidence but hard fact. The country wants a younger person as President in 2019.

“Some people say they are more popular, but the question I want to ask is that if they are popular why do they rig elections? My answer is that they rig because they are not popular. They rig because they know they cannot win in a free and fair election.” “Those who raise hundreds of billions for elections should be asked how they got the money. It is the money for education, health and other facilities for the masses that they are stealing. We need to put an end to that.”

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the National Action Council in its recently held national convention, Dr. Olapade Agoro, expressed confident he would defeat the incumbent.

He said, “I draw the confidence to send Buhari out next year from what I can do as a leader. Buhari is sitting on a cankerworm of corruption. Until we address the issue of corruption properly, we cannot address the issue of poverty. What our youths are doing is far smaller than what they are capable of doing. Politics is for service and not a way of amassing huge wealth.

“It is not everybody that claims to be in leadership position that knows what it entails. My purpose is to bring real change into the affairs of this country and that is why we are going to win.”

Another presidential aspirant under KOWA Party, Dr. Adesina Fagbenro-Byron, told Saturday PUNCH that he was in the contest to win and that he did not need to raise too much money.

“Goodluck Jonathan had more access to funds than Buhari in 2015 but money could not save him,” he added.

Fagbenro-Byron, who is a development expert and former regional coordinator of United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, said he would win because he meant serious business.

He said, “Yes, I’m in the contest to win and I have confidence that I will win. One of the issues we have is security and it is the failure in governance that has led to the current state of insecurity, which is why we need to change the current government.”

When asked whether he wanted to try just for recognition, given the dominance of the popular parties, he said, “If you know my history, you would know I don’t need the popularity. If I wanted to be popular, I would go into the studio and record an album with Falz. I am 59 and what I’m doing is not for frivolous reasons, having been in the business of governance and development for over 25 years.”

In his own response, an aspirant under the African Action Congress, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, said with the phenomenal progress his campaign had made, he was confident he would win the election.

Speaking on his strategy to win the race, Sowore, said, “I convened the largest political movement this nation has ever seen, called the ‘Take it Back Movement’, which now has chapters across all continents, Nigeria’s states and local government areas. We have held town hall meetings to engage Nigerians both within the country and in the Diaspora. I make bold to say that no one has worked as hard as we have done to engage with Nigerians and spread our message of transformation and progress.”

Also, the aspirant under the National Interest Party, Mrs. Eunice Atuejide, told Saturday PUNCH that she stood a good chance of winning the election, given that her party is in the CUPP.

She said, “I’m very sure that I have a huge chance to win this election, because I’m in the Coalition of United Political Parties, which includes some of the biggest political structures in Nigeria. The job of the CUPP is to pick one candidate from among us to represent all of us, and then every other party, with all their resources and structures, must now back the candidate. My goal is to become that candidate everybody else would support. My advice is that people should vote right; not because the political party is popular, but because the person we are voting for is the right person.”

Barely 24 hours after gunmen attacked the Nasara Baptist Church, Guguwa, Igabi local government area of Kaduna State where the Church’s Pastor, Reverend Hosea M. Akuchi was murdered, abductors of his wife have placed N5 million ransom on her.

A source in the area revealed that the attackers came calling at about 1 a.m. on Monday and forced their way into the apartment of the clergyman, shot him and took his wife, Mrs Talatu Hosea Akuchi away.

The source said that he abductors said that they needed N5 million as ransom before they could release her.

“They called a family phone line to tell us such heartless thing after killing the Reverend in cold blood.

“How can this injustice continue in a country like Nigeria without any serious measures in place to check the activities of these people?

“You can imagine that they now have the boldness to walk into people’s home, kill and abduct and also have the effrontery to demand for ransom.

“Where and how can we get that money?” the source wondered.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kaduna Police Command, DSP Yakubu Sabo had earlier confirmed that the clergyman was shot while struggling with the attackers whose intention may have been to abduct him.

However, the Police in the state are yet give any update on the development as several calls and SMS put through the mobile line of the PPRO were yet to be responded to as of the time of filing this report.