Kidnapping of priests still rampant in Nigeria

In Nigeria, the abduction of priests and religious has become so common that new cases barely register with the public. Although most end up being released, in what is now a lucrative business for criminals, there have also been fatalities, leaving Catholics in constant fear.

According to data collected by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), as of November 13th, the total number of priests, sisters, and seminarians kidnapped in 2023 is 23, showing that abductions continue to be the biggest threat to the safety of clergy and religious people in the country. Of those kidnapped, one was brutally killed, while the other 22 were released. And this year, two priests and one seminarian were murdered as well.

The first incidents of 2023 took place in January, including one kidnapping in the Diocese of Ekiti and the horrific murder of Father Isaac Achi, who burned to death when his parish was attacked. Father Achi’s colleague, Father Collins, was shot and wounded, but he survived. And since April, there has been at least one kidnapping a month. The most recent was in November, when Father Andrew Anana was held for less than 24 hours. He had been kidnapped before, in 2019.

And before that, on October 17th, Brother Godwin Eze, a Benedictine novice, and two aspiring Benedictines were taken from their monastery. When the two postulants were released three days later, they informed their superiors that Godwin had been shot, and his body was thrown into a river.

Days earlier, three sisters were taken by armed men. Rosemary Osiowhemu and Josephine Mary Chinyekwuo, from the Missionary Daughters of Mater Ecclesiae, and Maria Ngozi Okoye, of the Congregation of the Risen Lord, were heading to Mbano, in southern Nigeria, to attend the funeral of a sister’s mother. They were abducted, along with a seminarian and their driver. All were safely released after about a week.

September 7th was an especially tragic day for Nigerian Christians, with two separate attacks on seminarians. Ezekiel Nuhu and his father were kidnapped on holiday and spent almost two months in captivity before being released in November. And Na’aman Danlami, 27, of the Diocese of Kafanchan lost his life in an attack on a parish rectory, where he was assisting two priests. The two priests managed to escape, but Danlami died when the criminals set the house on fire. He suffered the same fate as Father Isaac Achi in January.

Another priest was murdered in 2023, bringing the total murdered religious to four, the same as in the entire previous year.

A year steeped in blood

Since 2022, ACN has been documenting cases around the world of Catholic clergy and religious who were murdered, kidnapped, or unlawfully detaiined. The numbers will be published toward the end of 2023. Last year, there were 118 incidents, including the murder of 16 priests and sisters

—Felipe d’Avillez