Bako, 48, was kidnapped by bandits following an attack on St. John’s Catholic Parish, where he served as pastor.
Before the archdiocese’s announcement, there were conflicting reports about the priest’s fate, with some sources indicating that Bako, who suffered from ill health, was tortured to death.
Father Emmanuel Anyanwu, the assistant pastor at St. John’s Catholic Parish, told the charity Aid to the Church in Need in April that Bako “suffered greatly before his death.”
“He was tortured because they were forcing him to pay a huge amount of ransom for his release. In this case, there was physical torture and beatings which caused him huge amounts of pain and agony,” Anyanwu said.
He added: “Because of his fragile health challenges, he couldn’t survive the torture.”
But Father Anthony Shawuya, deputy director of the Catholic Media Service Centre in the Archdiocese of Kaduna, told ACI Africa in a May 4 interview that he had not received an update on the priest’s condition.
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