Nigeria Pastor, Wife, Hacked To Death

By BosNewsLife Africa Service

JOS, NIGERIA (BosNewsLife)– Funerals were underway Friday, April 16, in a Muslim-dominated northern Nigerian state for a pentecostal pastor and his wife who were reportedly hacked to death and burnt to ashes by Muslim assailants.

The human remains of Pastor Ishaya Kadah of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) and his wife, Selina, were discovered Thursday, April 15, in the village of Boto in Bauchi State, two days after they were abducted, residents and officials said.

“We received a report on Tuesday [April 12] that a pastor and his wife were missing and a search team discovered the bodies two days later”, Bauchi State Police Commissioner Danlami Yar’Adua told French News Agency AFP.

“We have arrested two suspects and we are still looking for four other suspects in connection with the murder. We are on top of the situation,” Yar’Adua was quoted as saying.
 
Bauchi Governor Isah Yuguda, has reportedly expressed his condolences, and has contributed towards funeral expenses and the repair of the church building. Yuguda also promised to assist the couple’s children with the costs of their education, news reports said.

MORE VIOLENCE

The district of Tafawa Balewa where the bodies were found has a history of Christian-Muslim tensions as it is on the border with Plateau State, which has been rocked by sectarian violence in the last six years that has left hundreds dead.

Boto is home to more than 100 Muslims displaced by the sectarian violence in Jos, capital of Plateau State,  in January which the police said left 326 dead, AFP reported.

Tensions persist in Plateau State after a suspected bomb reportedly exploded prematurely on April 12 in a room in the Dadin Kuwa area of Jos, severely injuring three young Muslims, who are currently being interrogated in hospital.

Also, youth Shaku Sunday, who vanished on April 5 while grazing cattle with a friend in the Vom area has been found alive, but with severe machete wounds, said Christian rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

ARMED MEN

Sunday reportedly described being attacked by four Fulani men armed with swords. His friend’s mutilated corpse was apparently discovered the day after their disappearance.

Fulani men are also said to be responsible for hacking another man to death on April 14 in the village of Kassa in the state’s Barkin Ladi region.
 
CSW said that the continuing attacks and “silent killings” during curfew hours have caused “many to question the army’s willingness or ability to protect them.”

The group’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said CSW has urged Nigeria’s federal government to “review and adjust current security arrangements” and to “take decisive action against military personnel who are found to be involved in extrajudicial executions or attempted assassinations”.