Unknown Gunmen suspected to be bandits have kidnapped the parish priest of St. Raymond Catholic Church Damba, Gusau, Zamfara State, Revd. Fr. Mikah Suleiman.
It was gathered that the Acting Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Revd. Fr. Nuhu Iliya, confirmed the development in a statement on Saturday.
Nuhu said: “With sadness in our hearts, we write to inform the general public of the kidnap of one of our priests, Revd. Fr. Mikah Suleiman.
“This sad event occurred in the early hours of today, Saturday, 22nd June 2024 in the Father’s rectory. Fr Mikah is the Parish Priest of St. Raymond Catholic Church Damba, Gusau, Zamfara State.
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Speaking further, Revd Nuhu urged Christians to pray for the quick and safe release of the cleric.
He said: “We invite all Christ’s faithful and all men and women of goodwill to earnestly pray for his quick and safe release.
“We equally commend him to the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests, for his speedy release from the hands of his abductors.”
Also confirming the unfortunate incident in a statement made available to newsmen, the spokesperson of Zamfara State Police Command, Yazid Abubakar, said that Father Mikah was kidnapped around 3:00 am on Saturday at his residence in the Damba area of Gusau.
He said: “Yes, the incident happened early hour of today, the Reverend Father was kidnapped in his residence, we were not informed when the incident happened but what I gathered was that the man stays alone not in the church.
He added that the Command had deployed a Police tactical squad to the trail of the kidnappers, in a bid to rescue the priest.
“We have deployed our Tactical squad to go after the kidnappers with the aim of rescuing the victim unhurt.”
