The head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, Samuel Kanu, has been abducted along with two other priests on their way back from a church event. The men were travelling on a major highway on Sunday in the south-eastern state of Abia when they were kidnapped, local police told the BBC. It is not clear who is responsible, but separatist groups frequently carry out abductions in the region. Police say they have launched a rescue mission to find the clerics. “His Eminence, Samuel Kanu, is a peace-loving Christian leader” whose abduction “came as a shock”, the Very Rev Nosakhare Nosayaba of Abuja’s Methodist Cathedral of Unity told the BBC. “We are holding an hourly chain-prayer for him and the other priests he was kidnapped with. He was actually preparing for his retirement later this year.” Kidnappings, often for ransom, are common in many parts of Nigeria.(BBC)…[+]