Thursday, June 4, 2026

The Sun Nigeria

Abductors of 9 Benue worshippers demand N100 million ransom

Benue-State-map

From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi

The abductors of nine worshippers in a Catholic Church in Ojije, Utonkon, Ado Local Government , Benue State, have opened conversations with families of their victims demanding for payment ofN100 million ransom.

On Saturday February 7,  2026, kidnappers stormed St John’s Catholic Church, Ojije, Utonkon, Ado LG at about 2am and abducted children, women and youths while they were having a vigil in church.

A family member of one of the victims who spoke on behalf of all those kidnapped, said the kidnappers opened discussion with them yesterday (Wednesday) demanding for a ransom of N100 million.

He said as at yesterday, February 12, the abductors have reduced the amount to N30 million.

The relative who didn’t want to be named for fear of the unknown, said, “this is the situation we find ourselves in now. We are working hard to raise the money. We are soliciting assistance from friends and relatives to raise the funds.

“We are also appealing to spirited individuals, corporate organisations and civil society organisations to come to the aid of the abductees.

“As I speak to you, security agencies deployed to the area are still in and around our community but they are unable to arrest the kidnappers and rescue our people.

“We are also calling on the government to deploy more security agencies to comb the forest so as to rescue the victims and apprehend the perpetrators”.