- Rufai Oseni has strongly criticized the killing of Anglican priest Edwin Archie in captivity, claiming the murder was a targeted attack on his faith despite his family allegedly paying a ransom.
- Oseni claimed that the gangsters instructed the family to retrieve the pastor’s decomposing body after receiving payment.
- He used the incident to challenge those who deny targeted attacks on the Christian community and to highlight the plight of the priest’s elderly mother, who has yet to learn of her son’s death.
Journalist and broadcaster Rufai Oseni has reacted strongly to the death in captivity of Anglican priest Edwin Achi, describing the murder as a targeted attack on his faith and a tragic example of escalating insecurity in Nigeria.
Oseni highlighted the heartbreaking details of the abduction of the priest and his wife in Kaduna State. He claimed that even though the family successfully raised the ransom demanded by the kidnappers, they were instructed by the bandits to retrieve the decomposed body of Lord Achi.
The broadcaster argued the killing was religiously motivated and claimed it reflected a wider pattern of attacks:
“When Venerable Azhi was kidnapped, they raised a ransom for him. After his family paid the ransom, the bandits asked them to pick up his rotting body. Venerable Azhi was killed for his faith, purely for his faith. He was a cleric, he was a human being of flesh and blood.”
Oseni challenged those who deny the scale of such attacks:
“So when propagandists start saying there is no Christian genocide, I tell them the truth.”
He also drew attention to the emotional trauma faced by the family, noting that the priest’s elderly mother, who is in her nineties, still has not learned of her son’s death, and stressed that the insecurity continues to plague families across the country. Oseni concluded:
“So far, no one has been able to tell Venerable Achi’s mother that her son, who was in his 60s, was killed after a ransom was paid.”
