Mustapha Mohammed, also known as Mairutuwa, the leader of the kidnapping gang responsible for the murder of Catholic seminarian Michael Nnadi from the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna state in January 2020, has provided an explanation for his actions. He revealed why he killed Nnadi despite receiving a ransom from the seminary school.
On January 9, armed men abducted four seminarians from the Catholic seminary, killed one of them, and released the remaining three on January 31 after receiving ransom. The body of the fourth seminarian, 18-year-old Micheal Nnadi, was discovered in a bush on February 2nd and buried on February 11th.
In an interview with The Sun, Mustapha disclosed that Nnadi had persistently preached the gospel of Jesus to him since the day of his abduction, urging him to change his ways or face consequences. Despite knowing that they did not share the same faith, Nnadi continued advocating the gospel. Mustapha was unsettled by Nnadi’s confidence and decided to kill him.
Mustapha, currently in police custody with two other gang members, admitted that they targeted the seminary for financial gain. They acquired information about the seminary from a gang member who was a nearby commercial motorcycle operator. After conducting surveillance for five days, they initiated the operation.
He also revealed how they used Nnadi’s mobile phone to demand a ransom of N100 million, later reduced to N10 million, which the school authorities paid for the release of the other three seminarians.
Additionally, Mustapha disclosed that they coerced the school authorities to purchase N30,000 worth of recharge cards for various mobile networks, which were delivered to the agreed ransom collection spot.