By POLYCARP AUTA

A chief suspect (names withheld) in the kidnapping and killing of Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu, has provided reasons for his actions in an exclusive interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The suspect, who said he needed N200,000 to solve a personal problem, spoke to NAN at the Headquarters of the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), where he is currently being held on Thursday in Jos.

The chief suspect is helping detectives to unravel the cause of the incident and how to arrest other suspects now on the run.

Okechukwu, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Kafachan, Kaduna State, was abducted on March 4, at about 9:15 p.m. at his residence in Tachira, Kaura Local Government of the state.

He was later found dead on March 5.

The prime suspect, who said he invited other criminals from elsewhere to accomplish the assignment, denied asking his colleagues to kill the priest.

?Fr Okechukwu is living in our house at Tachira and I masterminded his kidnap because I needed N200,000 to solve a personal problem.

?I invited some guys (colleagues) from other places to assist me to accomplish the mission but I didn?t ask them to kill him.

?I don?t know why they (allegedly) killed him; I was not with them because I later left them with the priest,? he said.

Another suspect, names withheld, who is also being held at OPSH, said that the chief suspect had called him to assist him to actualise the crime.

?At first, I refused to be part of the deal, but the chief suspect insisted. The chief suspect and I grew up in the same community.

?So, on the said date I left my place in Warsa-Piti in Lere LG and participated in the kidnap of the priest.

?He actually contacted other guys from Bokkos in Plateau who came with guns; after we took the priest and walked for some distance, we left him with them.

?So, we can?t say how and why they allegedly killed the priest,? he said.

An official of the OPSH, who preferred anonymity, said that the suspects were arrested on Tuesday, following a raid troops conducted in a settlement at Warsa-Piti community of Lere.

The official said that investigations were ongoing to unravel the whereabouts of the remaining persons who allegedly participated in the heinous crime. (NAN)

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