By MOLLY KILETE, Abuja

The leader and mastermind of a kidnap gang that murdered a Catholic seminarian, Michael Nnadi, of the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna State, has told of how he killed the young priest who he said demonstrated outstanding bravery. He said the deceased kept preaching and told him to his face to change his evil ways or perish from the day he was abducted alongside his colleagues.

The suspect, Mustapha Mohammed (a.k.a Mairutuwa), said from the first day Nnadi was kidnapped alongside three of his other colleagues, he did not allow him to have peace as he continued preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to him even when he knew they were not of the same faith. He said he did not like the confidence displayed by the young man and decided to send him to an early grave.

He also said they decided to invade the school because they knew it was a seminary and that they would make good money.

The suspect, who spoke in a telephone interview in Abuja, is currently in the custody of the police. He revealed that his gang had gotten information about the seminary from a gang member who is a commercial motorcycle operator and lives very close to the school. He said it took his colleague about five days to conduct proper surveillance on the school before they embarked on the operation.

He also said told of how they had to use the mobile telephone number of the deceased Nnadi, to put a call across to the school authorities to demand a N100 million ransom which was later reduced to N10 million paid by the school authorities for the release of the three seminarians.

Mustapha further revealed that they had to force the school authorities to purchase recharge cards of the various mobile telecommunications network totalling N30,000 and brought to the spot where they had agreed to collect the ransom.

In the interview, the 26-year-old Fulani suspect said he belonged to a 45-man kidnap gang that has been terrorising motorists along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway and the Kaduna-Jos road, among other routes and bush roads in the north. (Daily Sun)

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