Daily Post Nigeria / X
CV NEWS FEED // A Nigerian military group arrested two suspects who may have been involved in the kidnap and murder of Father Sylvester Okechukwu, who was killed on Ash Wednesday.
Agenzia Fides reports that a special military unit called “Operation Safe Haven” (OPSH) arrested the two suspects, who were not named, on March 24.
The arrests followed a raid on the first suspect’s hideout, in a Ruga settlement in the Warsa-Piti community, in the Lere local government area of Kaduna State.
“During the preliminary investigation, the main suspect, a 33-year-old man, confessed that he had been hired by another person who lived in the same house as the slain priest to kidnap him,” OPSH spokesperson Major Samson Zhakom stated. “In a subsequent operation, security agents arrested the second suspect in Agwan Sarki, Tachira, in the Kaura Local Government Area. The suspects are currently in custody and undergoing further interrogation.”
Zhakom stated that there is an ongoing investigation to try to discover the other individuals involved in Fr. Okechukwu’s kidnapping and murder.
Fr. Okechukwu served at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Tachira, Kaura Local Government Area, before he was kidnapped on March 4, as CatholicVote previously reported. The Diocese of Kafanchan confirmed that he was killed on March 5.
“His untimely death has left an indelible void within our diocesan family,” stated Father Jacob Shanet, chancellor of the Kafanchan diocese, “and we share in the pain of his passing with his family, friends and all those who knew and loved him.”
