Denver Newsroom, Sep 29, 2020 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Gunmen kidnapped a Catholic priest in Nigeria’s Delta State on Saturday, the second kidnapping that same priest has experienced since 2018. The kidnappers released him Tuesday, though it is not yet clear whether the kidnappers were paid a ransom.
Father Jude Onyebadi, a priest at Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Issele-Azagba, about 10 miles southeast of Issele-Uku, was kidnapped from his farm Sept. 26, Premium Times reported.
Onyebadi, 54, had apparently gone to inspect his farm and pay the staff their salary, and the gunmen trailed him. The gunmen also abducted three workers from the farm along with the priest, but released them later that evening.
Fr. Charles Uganwa, communications director for the Issele-Uku diocese, told CNA that the gunmen released Father Onyebadi around 4:30pm local time Sept. 29.
Uganwa said the priest was not badly injured, though he had suffered a beating as the gunmen abducted him. Uganwa said he has not been able to confirm whether any ransom was paid for his release.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and the demographics overall are almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims, though the ratio varies widely throughout the country with Muslims dominating in some areas, and vice-versa.
Delta State, where Issele-Uku is located, is overwhelmingly Christian, but small bands of Muslim militants who hide in the dense bush are an ongoing threat. Many of them appear to be Fulanis, a Mulsim ethnic group that are primarily nomadic herders.
Kidnapping is an ongoing issue throughout Nigeria, particularly in the country’s north. Before the abduction of Father Onyebadi, at least six priests of the Issele-Uku diocese had been kidnapped since 2018.
One kidnapping that happened in June left an Issele-Uku priest badly injured.
“He was released after about four days in captivity. He was so injured. He was beaten with clubs and with stones, with the butt of their guns. He was seriously injured. He had to be in the hospital for many weeks,” Uganwa told CNA in August.
Uganwa told CNA that in addition to anti-Christian motivations, widespread unemployment, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, is one of the drivers of the unfortunately profitable phenomenon of kidnapping.
“There’s gross unemployment in Nigeria, so the youths are not occupied…They’re making so much money on kidnapping,” Uganwa said.
“It’s easier to kidnap priests, and give him little torture, and money will come out of it.”
Priests are vulnerable to kidnapping for several reasons, Uganwa said. They are often a visible and well-known member of a community; they rarely carry weapons; and often are found in predictable places, such as their rectory or church.
The Nigerian bishops’ conference last year announced that the diocese ought not pay ransom for a priest’s release, so oftentimes well-meaning parishioners will pool together their money to get their priest back.
“By and large, no priest comes out of captivity without ransom being paid,” Uganwa told CNA.
In a high-profile kidnapping case from earlier this year, gunmen abducted four seminarians from Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna, holding them for random. The kidnappers eventually released three of the seminarians, but killed 18-year-old Michael Nnadi after he refused to renounce his faith.
In the northern part of the country, Fulanis often clash with Christians in land disputes. The radical Islamist group Boko Haram, which emerged around 2009, is still active and has carried out devastating terror attacks on Christians in recent years.
Such incidents include attacks in late July on four Christian villages in southern Kaduna, in which more than 62 Christians were killed by Islamic terrorists. Also in July, an Islamic extremist group boasted of killing five international aid workers, three of whom were known employees of Christian aid agencies.
Boko Haram is affiliated with the Islamic State, and to date has displaced more than 2 million people from their homes. The name Boko Haram roughly translates to: “Western education is forbidden.”
Father Joseph Bature, a priest of the Diocese of Maidugui, told CNA in August that he estimates that since 2009, Boko Haram has driven out half of the 300,000 Catholics who used to live in the diocese. The region around Maiduguri is where Boko Haram first emerged.
Though Catholics there still celebrate Mass openly, they have to take stringent security measures against suicide bombers.
“Boko Haram is still very active, not in the city so much [as] in the outskirts…They still do the kidnapping, they still do the bombing. They still set mines on the road,” Bature said.
The problem of internally displaced persons, mostly Christians who have been driven from their homes, is especially acute in the north, where thousands of the destitute live in refugee camps.
“Around here, around Maiduguri, over 1.2 million are displaced. About 1.4 million, and the number keeps rising on a daily basis. [In] the entire country, you have over 2.4 million people internally displaced. Now that’s quite huge,” Bature said.
Part of the problem, Nigerian Christians have told CNA, is that the Muslim-dominated government has largely responded slowly, inadequately, or not at all to the problem of Christian persecution.
“The most important issue is that unfortunately, the government in Nigeria does not show enough will, either in speech or in action, to help to curb the violence and the bloodshed that we see, either from the terrorists or from bandits or from a headsman, because we have so many sorts of groups running riots all over the Northeast of Nigeria,” Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo told CNA.
Bishop Badejo said although his diocese is more peaceful than some in the north, with Muslims and Christians largely co-existing peacefully, there are some means of persecution that are more systemic and subtle, with government appointments and written laws seeming to favor Islam over Christianity.
“It’s no secret that in Nigeria, especially with the Buhari government, there are all written laws that have not favored Christians at all, that have favored, in other words, the Muslims,” Badejo said, noting that Buhari is himself of Fulani ancestry.
“The Christian Churches have protested, Christian leaders have protested, but the federal government has not said any word in order to show any desire to protect the Christian religion.”
The bishops of Nigeria have announced a 40-day period of prayer for an end to the persecution, which they have often described as a genocide. The 40 days end Sept. 30.
This week’s episode of the CNA Newsroom podcast is about Christian persecution in Nigeria. Click here to listen.
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Don’t start wars and the consequences can be avoided. Obviously that reality didn’t cross the minds of Islamic terrorists and their supporters.
I think the whole purpose of October 7th was to disrupt peace attempts & power structure in the region. The well being & best interests of Gazan residents was not the terrorists or Iran’s first concern. It never has been.
Nor is the well-being & best interests of people ever the first concern of that which remains the ultimate motivator of Islamic terrorists, which is Islam, the religion of barbarity. Moreover, Islamic terrorists are not simply “radical Muslims” as dishonest apologists for Islam continue to gaslight the rest of the world about instead of telling the truth about Islam that is published in black and white in all of their authoritative documents. Islamic terrorists are faithful practitioners of Islam in their actions of brutal violence they inflict on others based on that aspect of Jihad which calls for violence to further the goals of Islam, which is the entire world under the rule and domination of Islam.
Of course, the reality of Islam and the fact that gullible people are easily misled about Islam due to some favorable encounters with individual Muslims does not justify in any way any abuse or violence visited directly upon non-combatants, and to the extent this is being done in Gaza by anyone is morally reprehensible.
Tell me how you are not reacting exactly as the Hamas terrorists calculated. Show how you are not playing directly into their hands.
Tell us, why are you supporting and defending Hamas?
Gaza residents elected Hamas. Now we are beginning to see some regret and resistance to their tyranny among Gazans.
Be careful to whom you provide support.
Hamas is the ruling party in Gaza.
Calls for the destruction of Israel can be found in Hamas’ founding documents.
There is no peace because peace is not the objective of Hamas. Never has been.
In fact Israel used to occupy Gaza. They gave it up some 30 or so years ago in hopes of securing peace.
Upon taking possession, the Palestinians immediately started to lob rockets from Gaza into Israeli cities.
The Catholic pastor cannot say what needs to be said: That there will be no peace in the Middle East until the Muslim leaders there want peace.
What was that quote? I think Golda Mier said it: There will be no peace until the Palestinians love their children more than they hate us (the Jews)?
Hear, hear!!
(meant to reply to this post first time around fyi)
That has nothing to do with the Christians or the many Muslims who have nothing to do with Hamas. The Baptist Church and Holy Family Catholic Church have had a long presence in Gaza without any problems from their neighbors.
Advise the Ishmaelites to repudiate their Fatwa against their infidels that includes Western civilization in particular with a special venom reserved for the Jews between the river and the sea.
Does anyone know a truly reliable charity that will forward aid and donations to the poor Christians in Gaza and Fr. Romanelli? Is it even possible to get aid to them?
Thanks
Over an eight-year period, I resided in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, during which time I traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This experience afforded me the opportunity to engage with diverse Muslim communities, observe their cultural practices, and develop a nuanced understanding of the region. While my interactions were predominantly positive, and I have undertaken studies of Islamic texts, including the Qur’an and Sahih al-Bukhari, I do not claim expertise in Islamic theology or jurisprudence.
The assertion that ‘an Islamic terrorist is nothing less than a faithful Muslim’ presents a problematic generalization. While some interpretations of Islamic texts may be used to justify violence, it is crucial to acknowledge the diversity of Islamic thought and practice. The term ‘radical’ may be imprecise, but it attempts to differentiate between those who adhere to interpretations that condone violence and those who do not. The claim that moderate Muslims exhibit ‘laxness’ in their adherence to Islamic teachings is a subjective assessment that requires careful consideration of varying theological perspectives. It is a simplification to suggest that the adoption of a ‘faithful path’ inevitably leads to the acceptance of terrorism, ignoring the complex interplay of socio-political, economic, and individual factors that contribute to radicalization.
That’s what the Salafis believe. However, there are other disciplines of Islam. I lived in Cairo in 2005 for almost 5 1/2 months on a research project working with a group of Christians and Muslims who all socialized together. The Muslims were of the Hanifi school of thought. When the Copts were at Mass it would be a Muslim couple who would drive me to English language Roman Catholic Mass.
Through the years I kept up with these people. Thanks to the internet during the reign of the Islamist Morsi the I was able to witness the “people’s uprising” against this Islamist regime. When Christians worshiped Muslims came from all over Cairo and locked arms standing outside, surrounding the church to see that none of Morsi’s cohorts could enter. I’m sure you could search for the uprising against Morsi.
Unfortunately, the Christians in central Egypt were and are still suffering under Salafi rule.
Re Hamas rule: Fatah won the election. The elected Fatah leaders were dragged up onto roof tops and hurled off by Hamas which also happened in Egypt under Morsi’s brief rule. By the way, the most powerful supporter of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood was Barak Obama who was president at the time.
Life is never black and white; it is full of intricacies and contradictions.
For some doses of reality, Catholic World Report readers can check the following from a most informative website:
https://thereligionofpeace.com/pages/articles/jesus-muhammad.aspx
https://thereligionofpeace.com/pages/myths/index.aspx
https://thereligionofpeace.com/pages/games/index.aspx
>>>>>
“Fantasy Islam: A game in which an audience of non-Muslims wish with all their hearts that Islam was a ‘Religion of Peace,’ and a Muslim strives to fulfill that wish by presenting a personal version of Islam that has little foundation in Islamic Doctrine.” -Dr. Stephen M. Kirby
“terrorist group Hamas and Israel” should be reworded to “terrorist group Israel and Hamas”
May God bless Israel & God’s chosen people at Passover.
May the Church start praying for Israel’s conversion.
The Church seems to be more involved in the Gaza war. Iran is more emboldened by the delay of religious attention. The Pope’s appeals are 2 years old. That is a long time given the disaster at hand and the loss of thousands of innocent lives.
I have suggested that all religions assemble to present a united front and confront the murderous “religious” Ayatollah to help him understand his mortal sin and plead with him for sanity.
The Pope made “frequent calls” to the parish in Gaza?? Thats nice. But I wonder if he made frequent calls to the families whose children were murdered or kidnapped on October 7th? Somehow I doubt it. And I wonder if he ever pondered how it came to pass that this place is the LAST surviving Catholic/Christian parish in all of Gaza? I’m pretty sure its because almost every last Christian was driven out of the place.