Nigeria: Another priest kidnapped

Fr Jude Kingsley Maduka. Image: Fides

Source: Fides/ACN

Father Jude Kingsley Maduka, parish priest of the Catholic parish of Christ the King, Ezinnachi-Ugwaku, Okigwe LGA, in Imo State, southeast Nigeria, is the latest priest to be kidnapped in Nigeria. According to the chancellor of the Okigwe diocese, r Iwuanyanwu, Fr Maduka was abducted on Friday, 19 May, while visiting the newly built chapel for Eucharistic adoration in the Ogii village of Okigwe.

On April 15, another priest from Okigwe diocese, Fr Michael Ifeanyi Asomugha, parish priest of the church of St Paul in Osu, was kidnapped on the Oriagu-Obowo highway, in the state of Imo, when he was returning from a diaconal ordination. The kidnappers placed a huge rock on the road to block the car in which the priest was traveling. When he got out to remove the stone, he was attacked by bandits. The brother priest who was in the driver's seat managed to escape and raise the alarm. Fr Asomugha was later released after a few days, thanks to his family's intervention.

Most kidnappings in Nigeria have taken place along roads and highways.

Between 2021 and 2022, five priests were kidnapped in the diocese of Okigwe. The case of Fr Fidelis Ekemgba, parish priest of Saint Peter's Church in Umunohu Amakaohia, Ihitte/Uboma local government area, who was abducted on September 12, 2021 and later released, caused a scandal, because, according to Nigerian police, he was kidnapped by a gang led by Izuchukwu Anoloba, pastor of the Apostolic Church of Christ in Lagos. After his arrest, he declared that he "repented for my actions, because now I am a disgrace to the body of Christ and to my family."

Several nuns have also been kidnapped in Nigeria. Four nuns from the diocesan congregation Sisters of Jesus the Saviour who were kidnapped on their way to Mass on August 21, 2022. Sisters Johannes Nwodo, Christabel Echemazu, Liberata Mbamalu and Benita Agu were later released.

The plague of kidnapping for extortion purposes is widespread in much of Nigeria. Certain sections of road have been particularly vulnerable.

In addition to local bandits, in Imo state, gangs of Fulani herders have been accused of kidnapping. They are not native to the state, but seem to move freely, avoiding the controls of the authorities. This has raised questions about whether they are working with local gangs.

In a statement released today Aid to the Church in Need, "expresses strong concern for this criminal phenomenon which, it says, despite reassurances from authorities, continues to proliferate with no serious effective action to stem it.

Kidnapping has become a major menace and security challenge in Nigeria which for over ten years has also been experiencing the Boko Haram insurgency, targeting churches, Christians, Muslim critics as well as State institutions.

The terrorist group aims at overthrowing Nigeria's secular government and establishing an Islamic state. Since it was launched in 2009, more than 35,000 people have been killed in northern Nigeria and nearly two million have been displaced.