Fresh details have emerged surrounding how a senior clergyman, Rev. Hassan Yunisim Mijah, mast£rminded a fo!led consp!racy to k!dnap the wives of the current and former Anglican Bishops of Jos, Mrs. Esther G. Gongden and Mrs. Gloria Kwashi.
The intricate kidnap plot engineered by the priest was exposed when a devout Muslim naval officer recruited by the mastermind who secretly blew the whistle and al£rted the Bishop of Jos, Right Reverend Ephraim Gongden, at his residence in the Rantya area of Jos South Local Government Area.
According to insider accounts, the naval personnel visited the bishop’s living room and disclosed that he had been approached by Rev. Mijah’s synd!cate to carry out the abdúct!on. Stating that his rel!gious bel!efs and moral upbringing prevented him from participating in such a cr!me.
Upon being briefed, operat!ves of the Plateau State Police Command’s Vigilance and Cr!minal Response Unit (VCRU) instructed the naval officer to play along with the masterm!nd.
While at the police station, Rev. Mijah, who serves as a Rev. Canon under the Anglican Diocese of Jos, placed a phone call to the naval personnel demanding an update on his assigned task: secur!ng a safehouse to hold the v!ctims. Working in coordination with detect!ves, the naval officer provided a police-monitored address located on the outskirts of Jos.
Believing the safehouse was ready, Rev. Mijah traveled to the designated location alongside two m!litary personnel; identified as Sergeant Ezra Sunday of the Nigerian Air Force and OS Usman Khalid of the Nigerian Navy, to collect the keys. Police operatives staged at the location immediately took the clergyman and his accompl!ces into custody
Subsequent police investigations revealed that Rev. Mijah had instructed his co-consp!rators to demand a ₦100 million rans0m from the diocese, with a bottom line not to accept less than ₦50 million.
Detectives also uncovered that the clergyman initially att£mpted to contract a Fulani mil!tia gang to execute the abdúct!on. However, negotiations collapsed after the m!litia leader insisted that his men must s£xually assaúlt the two women during their capt!vity, a condition Rev. Mijah rep0rtedly rejected before turning to m!litary personnel to carry out the job.
Background f!ndings indicate a history of administrative fr!ction between the masterm!nd and the diocesan leadership. Rev. Mijah had previously been d!smissed by the former Bishop of Jos, Most Rev. Benjamin Kwashi, but was later re!nstated by the current bishop, Rt. Rev. Ephraim Gongden. Following his re!nstatement, Mijah demanded back-pay allowances, which the diocese decl!ned to settle.
It was further gathered that Rev. Mijah, an indigene of Adamawa State, has been nurs!ng political amb!tions and is actively cont£sting for the House of Representatives seat representing Numan/Lamuorde/Demsa Federal Constituency under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The Plateau State Police Command confirmed that the suspects remain in cust0dy, while mil!tary authorities overseeing Sector 1 of Operation Enduring Peace have been formally notified as legal proceed!ngs and expanded invest!gations continue.
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ME: Indeed, the smoke of the devil has entered the church.
"ekwensu eromansia mami water" in Chiwetalu Agu's voice. This is really shocking! When you think you've heard or seen it all, then the unexpected happens again. and again.
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