The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jos, Rt. Rev. Ephraim Gongden, has disclosed fresh details of an alleged plot by a former clergy of the diocese, Rev. Hassan Yunisim Mijah, to kidnap his wife, Mrs Esther Gongden, revealing that the former cleric later told him that he was the actual target of the conspiracy.
Bishop Gongden, who spoke on Advent Cable Network Nigeria (ACNN) on the foiled kidnap attempt, said the plot was uncovered on August 6 after a naval personnel arrived at the Bishop’s Court in Jos at about 10 p.m., insisting on seeing him personally.
The visitor, according to the bishop, initially claimed to have a message for him but refused to disclose its content to the security personnel.
Gongden said the man’s insistence on seeing him at such a late hour raised suspicion, particularly after he claimed to be a military officer.
He said the visitor eventually warned the security personnel that if anything happened to the bishop or his wife, they should not blame him.
“At that moment they called me and said, ‘This is what the man said.’ I said, okay, just play along with him for a few minutes,” the bishop recalled.
He said he used the opportunity to alert the police, who subsequently took the visitor to the station.
It was at the police station, he said, that the visitor played a recording of a conversation allegedly detailing the plan to abduct his wife.
According to Gongden, the recording contained specific information about his family, including their vehicle, mobile phones, residence and the alleged strategy for overpowering them at the gate.
“It was all about kidnapping my wife. Everything was about my wife: description of our car, description of the types of phones we have, how they will come and stop at the gate, how they will dispossess us of our phones, how they will take the car key and everything before we even enter the compound,” he said.
The bishop said the conversation also contained details of the routes allegedly intended to be used by the kidnappers and where his wife would be taken.
He explained that the alleged plan was to leave him behind so that he could search for money for his wife’s release.
Gongden said the man who exposed the plot was a naval personnel who had completed a peacekeeping assignment in Jos and was preparing to return to Sapele.
According to him, the man had allegedly been tasked with finding a house where his wife would be held after the abduction.
The bishop said the young man decided to reveal the plan because he could not reconcile the assignment with the values he had been taught by his parents.
“He said he wanted to sleep, but he lost his peace. And even when he tried and tried and tried, he said what his mother taught him and his father taught him could not allow him to rest. That was why he came to reveal it,” Gongden said.
He said the police subsequently used the young man to advance their investigation, leading to the arrest of Mijah and two other military personnel allegedly recruited for the operation.
The bishop said the former clergy was further implicated when a telephone call allegedly came from him while the young man was making his statement to senior police officers.
“He was asking him how far he has gone with the assignment they gave him,” Gongden said.
The bishop also categorically denied reports that he had reinstated Mijah into the Anglican Diocese of Jos.
