The Nigerian police have arrested one Pastor Joel Saul in Adamawa State for alleged attempted kidnapping.
The cleric reportedly threatened to kidnap one Oliver Mamza if he failed to deliver N1million to him, according to a police First Information Report (FIR).
On Monday, a Chief Magistrate Court I, sitting in Yola, Adamawa state, remanded Pastor Saul for allegedly attempting to commit kidnapping.
Magistrate Alheri Ishaku, remanded the pastor in prison custody after he pleaded guilty to an attempt to commit kidnapping, contrary to section 249(3) of Penal Code Law 2018.
Pastor Saul of Ngurore, a satellite town in the Yola South Local Government Area, was arraigned before the court by a police prosecutor, ASP Ezra Bulus, for the offence to which he pleaded, “Yes, I am guilty.”
ASP Bulus informed the court that “the defendant threatened to abduct one Oliver Mamza, of Sangere, a community along Numan road, failure to pay N1 million as ransom.
“The defendant in a threat letter addressed to Mamza and dropped at his residence, ordered him to pay the sum of N1 million to avoid being kidnapped or any of his family members.”
He was said to have warned him (Mamza) not to attempt to leave his house. “He threatened to burn down his house and his shops,” ASP Bulus added.
The pastor also provided his phone numbers for his victim to contact him for the ransom.
The police apprehended the kidnapper-cleric after tracking the numbers (07012233559 and 08111063872).
After the defendant’s guilty plea, the prosecutor, ASP Bulus, applied that the matter be adjourned to enable the transmission of the case file to the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice as provided by section 297 of Administration of Criminal Justice Law (CJL).
Magistrate Ishaku granted the application and adjourned the matter for further mention.
