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VATICAN NEWS
The past decade the Catholic Church in Nigeria has seen an alarming wave of abductions targeting its priests, seminarians, and religious personnel against the backdrop of a general increase of kidnappings for ransom.
According to a study published last week by Fides Agency, a total of 145 priests were abducted between 2015 and 2025, with eleven killed and four still missing.
The latest incident occurred on March 5, when Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu, a priest of the Diocese of Kafanchan, Kaduna State, was murdered a day after his kidnapping, Aci Africa agency reported.
Two days earlier in the Diocese of Auchi, Edo State, a Seminarian, Andrew Peter, was brutally killed as gunmen kidnapped him along with another priest, Fr. Philip Ekweli who was eventually released on March 13 after ten days in captivity.
Kidnappings: a major and persistent issue in Nigeria
Kidnappings have been a major issue in Nigeria since the Nineties when armed groups started abducting foreign oil executives in the oil-rich Niger Delta, as a way to pressure the government to address their concerns about oil pollution in their communities.
Since 2009, the Islamist Boko Haram insurgents have also been responsible for numerous kidnappings, particularly in Nigeria’s northeast and northwest, including mass-abductions of schoolchildren. But in more recent times, hostage-taking has become a booming industry related to the country’s worsening economic conditions. Kidnapping for ransom became rampant in 2011, spreading across all 36 states and the capital, Abuja, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between July 2022 and June 2023, 3,620 people were abducted in 582 kidnapping cases, with about 5 billion naira (approximately $3.88 million) paid in ransoms.
Along with businesspeople, and generally those perceived as being well-off Church personnel has been increasingly targeted…