Monday December 1, 2025
www.thenewsdesk.ng
Bandits have returned only the lifeless body of Venerable Edwin Achi, the Kaduna Anglican priest abducted weeks ago, despite receiving millions in ransom from his family.
Arise TV anchor, Rufai Oseni, was visibly shaken as he paid tribute to the sla!n clergyman on air.
“They gathered money, paid what the k!dnappers demanded, and were still told to come pick up their pastor’s corpse,” he lamented. “He died because he chose to serve God. Call it what you want—this was a k!lling rooted in hatred.”
Venerable Achi, a man in his sixties, was k!dnapped from his home in Nissi Village on October 28 alongside his wife and daughter. After desperate efforts, his family managed to raise a reduced ransom of ₦100 million. Instead of his release, they were directed to a remote location where his remains had been dumped.
His wife and daughter are still being held.
Rufai shared a heartbreaking detail: the priest’s elderly mother in Delta State, now in her nineties, remains unaware of her son’s death. “No one has found the courage to tell her,” he said. “She’s still waiting for him.”
The killing has reignited nationwide conversations about the rising att*acks on Christian clergy in northern Nigeria. One viewer’s viral comment summed up the public outrage:
“When pastors are k!lled even after ransom is paid, this is no longer k!dnapping. This is hatred.”
In response, the Kaduna Diocese has suspended its major outreach program in honor of Venerable Achi as burial preparations begin in Delta State. His d£ath stands as a grim reminder that ransom payments no longer guarantee the return of loved ones—dead or alive.