Teenage Catholic seminarians appeal for ransom. Terrorists show video threatening to kill them
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“They kill people here. Our abductors have threatened to kill us. Please, send money to them to spare our lives” – kidnapped seminarians on video released by terrorists.
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Teenage seminarians abducted at the Catholic Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary School in Ivianokpodi in Edo have appealed to their parents and members of the public to help raise ransom demanded for their release.
Gunmen attacked the school on July 10, killed a civil defence corps security and abducted three seminarians.
One of the abductees was released afterward, two have remained in captivity ever since.
A few hours after their kidnap, Edo Police Commissioner Monday Agbonika ordered the immediate deployment of tactical teams to catch the abductors and rescue the seminarians unhurt.
“The operatives will not relent until those behind this reprehensible act are tracked down and made to face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
But a recent video released by the kidnappers shows the remaining two teenage seminarians begging their parents and members of the public to pay ransom demanded for their freedom.
The boys, surrounded by masked armed terrorists, are seen holding dry human skulls, and heard saying, “They kill people here. Our abductors have threatened to kill us. Please, send money to them to spare our lives.”
Catholic Diocese of Auchi spokesperson, Rev. Fr. Peter Egielewa, confirmed to The PUNCH that, “The video you see of the seminarians holding a human skull is real. We are negotiating with the kidnappers.
“But they are asking for money which we do not have and I think it’s out of frustration they did that video.
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