An American missionary Rev Phyllis Sortor, was kidnapped from a school compound in Nigeria, officials said Tuesday.
Sortor, a missionary with the Free Methodist Church in Seattle, was abducted from the compound of the Hope Academy in Kogi State, the Free Methodist Church said in a statement.
The church said that the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria had been been notified and the State Department and FBI were working with local authorities to rescue to Sortor.
“We are calling on the U.S. church to join together in prayer for Phyllis’ safety and speedy release,” it said.
Sortor is an alumna of Seattle Pacific University, NBC station King5 reported. Her stepson Richard Sortor told King5 at a prayer service at SPU on Monday night: “She believes in God, she’s doing God’s work.” He said the news was “surreal, just surreal, I can’t believe this.”
Police in Nigeria’s Kogi State confirmed the abduction to NBC News and said officers were “doing everything they can to get her back.” The circumstances surrounding Sortor’s kidnapping were immediately unclear. The church statement said the abduction had been carried out by “several persons.” The region of Nigeria is not a known area of operation for the militant group Boko Haram.
