The Boko Haram insurgents killed Rev. Lawan Andimi, the Michika Local Government Area Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) after rejecting a N50m ransom.
The insurgents had taken away the local council CAN chairman two weeks ago when they launched an attack on the council headquarters, Michika.
The Adamawa State Chairman of CAN, Stephen Mamza, said the insurgents demanded a ransom of £2 million, and rejected an offer of N50 million.
“Pastor Lawan was beheaded yesterday,” the state CAN chairman said Tuesday afternoon, adding, “negations were still ongoing when they stopped calling. They were offered N50 million but they rejected it.”
Mamza added that the insurgents called Rev Lawan’s wife last week, informing her that they would be beheading him on Saturday, but that somehow “they waited till Monday, yesterday.”
Lamenting that Christians were beginning to take the heat of killings in Adamawa State, the CAN chairman who is also the Catholic Bishop of Yola, said, “Also yesterday, Pastor Dennis Bagauri of the Lutheran Church was killed in Jereng, Mayo-Belwa area of Adamawa state.
“It is now clear that Christians are not protected by the government; we don’t feel like we have a government.”
In his own reaction, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri said the execution of Rev. Andimi was barbaric.
The Governor said in a statement released by his Director General of Media and Communication, Solomon Kumanga, that he is deeply saddened “by the gruesome execution of the pastor.”
