Destiny led me to kill Benue Rev Father —Suspect

· Says gang collected N1.7m ransom

ONE of the four suspects who kidnapped and killed Reverend Father John Alex Adeyi in Benue State, Saidu, told newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday, that destiny led him to pull the trigger on the late cleric.

Parading the four suspects who were involved in the dastardly act last April, Saidu revealed that after retrieving the N1.7 million ransom from where the relations of the late cleric kept it in the bush, they noticed they were not safe as a large number of vigilance groups were coming after them in the bush, hence he killed the cleric.

Force spokesman, Don Awunah, who gave the names of the other suspects as Suleiman, 30; Aliyu, 26 and Haruna, 27, said three locally fabricated guns, a Nokia Lumia phone belonging to the late Reverend father, a black Gicent phone model M9 used for negotiation and collection of the ransom were recovered from the suspects.

Awunah said consequent upon the kidnap and murder of Reverend Father Adeyi of Catholic Diocese of Otukpo and parish priest of St. Bernard’s Parish Okpoga on April 24, 2016 after collection of ransom by the kidnappers, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, directed the intelligence response team attached to IGP Monitoring Unit to conduct a thorough investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.

According to him, between the September 1 and 14, the four suspects were trailed and arrested at different locations in Bauchi, Enugu and Benue states.

He disclosed that in the course of investigation, the suspects confessed to be the gang responsible for the kidnap and murder of the cleric, while they collected the ransom of N1.7 million from his family.

Awunah said Saidu voluntarily told the police investigators that he fired the shot that killed the cleric, adding that the suspects would be arraigned in court in due course.