American Missionary worker, Rev. Phyllis Sortor, who was kidnapped released
The American Missionary worker, Rev. Phyllis Sortor, who was kidnapped
in the Hope Academy Compound in Kogi state on Monday February 23rd has
regained her freedom. According to the Kogi state Police Commissioner,
no ransom was paid for her freedom.
Phyllis Sortor, a missionary with the Free Methodist Church, was seized on February 23 in Kogi state. Photo / AP
An American woman kidnapped by masked gunmen in central Nigeria last month has been released.
Phyllis Sortor, a missionary with the Free Methodist Church, was seized on February 23 in Kogi state.
"She
has been rescued and given to the American authorities," Kogi state
police spokesman Collins Sola Adebayo said. No ransom was paid.
Sortor, 71, appeared unharmed at the handover at state capital Lokoja.
Kogi's
police chief Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi said her captors dropped in bushlands
outside the village of Eru and "raised an alarm which attracted the
villagers."
Her church confirmed the release but declined to
provide details on the circumstances. "As a matter of sound policy, and
to help protect the many, many people who helped secure Phyllis'
freedom, we will have no comment concerning the efforts that were
undertaken to secure her release," Bishop David Kendall said.
US embassy officials in Abuja were not available to comment.
Sortor
spent years living in Africa, including Mozambique, where she spent
much of her childhood, later working in Rwanda and, since 2005, Nigeria,
Kendall said
Her work focused primarily on educational
development and conflict resolution between nomadic herdsmen and farming
communities the church statement further said.
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