The Voice of the suffering in Africa

In a statement sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Father Kazah asked for prayers for Father Ukeh’s “urgent and safe release” and condemned the “incessant kidnappings for ransom of innocent and defenseless citizens.”

Father Gbuzuo is the fourth priest to be kidnapped in Nigeria this year. Claretian Fathers Kenneth Kanwa and Jude Nwachukwu were taken in February, and Tony Mukoro, a priest from the Diocese of Benin City, was taken in March. All were safely released.

According to the Director of social communications for the Diocese of Makurdi, Father Moses Iorapuu, the principal of the Father Angus Frazer Memorial High School, Father Emmanuel Ogwuche, switched off all the lights in the building after hearing gunshots outside, preventing terrorists from finding their way into the school.

He added: “All the kidnapped girls were converted to Islam, but the 14-year-old Leah Sharibu remained faithful to her Christian belief. Her freedom of religion and belief was violated, and today, she is still in captivity.”

“The realization that there are people in our country who are cruelly murdered or abducted and disappear for political reasons or other macabre interests makes one shudder."

This month, dozens of Christians have been killed in towns and villages across Nigeria’s Middle Belt, most recently around Easter, according to information sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by local Catholic leaders.