RELEASED KIDNAPPED ARCHBISHOP RECOUNTS FRIGHTENING ORDEAL!

Ex-Anglican primate, Dr. Peter Akinola

“I was stripped of my shirt, shoes inside forest and my driver left with only his boxer shorts on”

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The immediate past primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Dr. Peter Akinola on Christmas day recounted his ordeal in the hands of the gunmen who abducted him on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He said that the armed took them to a forest where they took off his shirt and shoes while they stripped his driver almost completely naked, leaving him with only his boxer shorts on.

Akinola, his daughter and driver were on Tuesday afternoon waylaid and whisked away by some gunmen in Abeokuta but were later in the day rescued by the police.

Narrating his ordeals in the hands of his abductors to the congregation at the Saint Saviour’s Anglican Church, Abeokuta, where he had gone for the Christmas and thanksgiving service with members of his family, friends and well-wishers, Akinola stated that he and his daughter as well as his driver were rescued by the benevolence of the Almighty God.

The retired clergyman explained that he had gone to the secretariat of the youth training center he established in Abeokuta to hand out Christmas presents to the staff when two armed men suddenly appeared and whisked the three of them away from the premises.

He said that their abductors took them far into a thick forest where they rigorously interrogated him.

The Primate added that the gunmen queried them about the dollars in the car, saying he told them he was a retired village priest and that the SUV was presented to him as gift by his church members.

Expressing surprise at the rate at which the news of the incident spread quickly, Akinola disclosed that Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye personally led the search for him and others abducted by the gunmen.

According to the retired primate: “I left the house at about 11am to go to our site where we are building structures to train young people in Nigeria who are unemployed. The irony of it is that as I was coming out of the place where I had gone to give food to our workers for Christmas, as I was stepping out, these two young men came out of their car from nowhere. They asked me to open the door, knocking the glass with their guns.

“I instructed My driver, Jonah to open the door for them, they sandwiched us at the back of the car and they drove off. They told us to put our heads down and that they would blow off our heads if we looked up. They drove for about an hour, where we didn’t know until we discovered that we were in the midst of a thick forest. Then I requested to talk and informed them that there was no enough fuel in the car.

“They queried us for not having enough fuel in the car and my driver responded that we just returned from a journey. In the bush there, I was suprised at how they were able to locate a filling station, bought three thousand Naira fuel and we continued with the journey. That was about three in the afternoon.

“They started asking questions about dollars but I said there was none. I told them I was a village pastor that had just retired and that the car was given to me by the church. They asked about the security of the car and I told them there was none. They searched for it for almost two hours but couldnt find anything.

“I was just praying that God of mercy come to our rescue; I was just remembering how God saved some believers in the Bible and I concluded that if I must die, how can it be in the hands of these people. Unknown to us, the news had started circulating around and people started praying. Meanwhile they had taken everything from us; they had taken my shirt, my shoe and I was left with my singlet and trousers. But my driver was not so lucky; his cloth, trousers and shoes were taken and he was left with his boxer shorts.

“They said I should walk; when we moved about hundred meters from the car, I was asked to take the left while my driver was asked to take the right. While inside the bush, I was hearing how they were threatening my driver.

“After a while we started hearing gun shot. Apparently, the police were around. Later we learnt that the Governor himself with the commissioner of police and the secretary to the state government led the rescue team. When we no longer heard any gunshot, I trekked back to the footpath shouting for my driver.

“Not quite long I saw a vehicle coming, they approached me , I raised my hands and told them it was my car they took and that I was looking for my driver. They said they were policemen and that I should come into the car.

He commended the leader and the entire team of the state anti-robbery squad who he said engaged the gunmen in an exchange of fire before they could be set free.

“The leader of the police team, the State anti robbery squad,they called him TJ, was a wonderful man. For the first time in my life I doff my hat for the police for their performance. This same man, a Muslim approached me and said they have heard about what I’ve been doing, that I should not stop, saying God has preserved my life for this purpose. He charged me to do more, right from Imasayi to Ayetoro and right to Randa.

“It was just beyond my imagination that I came back in peace but was worried about my driver whom I later found out was at the hospital,” Akinola said.

In his remarks, the Vicar of the Church, Rev. Gideon Aderogba declared that the people of Ogun State and Nigeria as a whole should thank God for the rescue of the primate and the two other victims.

http://www.punchng.com