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Catholic priest in Nigeria recovering after week-long kidnapping ordeal

March 26, 2021 CNA Daily News 0

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- A Catholic priest in Nigeria is recovering after a week-long kidnapping ordeal.

Fr. Harrison Egwuenu, a priest of the Diocese of Warri in Delta State, was freed on March 21, Fr. Benedict Okutegbe, administrator of Sacred Heart Cathedral in the city of Warri, confirmed on Thursday.

Okutegbe told ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner: “We are grateful to God for the safe release of Fr. Harrison Egwuenu.”

He added: “Fr. Egwuenu is doing OK. Of course, he needs time to overcome the traumatic experience.”

The priest, who formerly served as Warri diocese’s director of social communications, thanked Catholics for their prayers for Egwuenu’s release.

“We all prayed and our prayers were heard. To God be the glory,” he commented.

Egwuenu was kidnapped March 15 as he was returning to St. George’s College, Obinomba, where he was recently appointed principal.

Okutegbe previously told ACI Africa that Egwuenu was seized by unknown gunmen at about 8 p.m. in Oria-Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area.

Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009 when a Boko Haram insurgency began with the aim of turning the country into an Islamic state.

Since then, the organization, which is one of the largest Islamist groups in Africa, has orchestrated terrorist attacks on various targets, including religious and political groups as well as civilians.

Insecurity has also increased in the West African nation due to the actions of predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen, who have clashed frequently with Christian farmers over grazing land.

Speaking to ACI Africa March 25, Okutegbe challenged the government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, to put the safety of Nigeria’s 201 million citizens first.

“One of the primary duties of government is the protection of the lives and property of her citizens,” he said.

“There is need for the government to get to work and keep Nigeria safe and peaceful.”

“The government should wake up to this responsibility or give way to one who can.”

“How can there be sustainable development in a country whose security architecture has collapsed?”

“We demand more from our government. Not tomorrow but now.”

Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have repeatedly called on the government to put in place strict measures to protect its population.

“It is just unimaginable and inconceivable to celebrate Nigeria at 60 when our roads are not safe; our people are kidnapped, and they sell their properties to pay ransom to criminals,” members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria said in an Oct. 1 statement, marking the country’s independence anniversary.

They added: “Nigerians are experiencing an invasion of their farmlands by armed Fulani herdsmen; a group well organized and already designated as the fourth deadliest terrorists’ group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index.”

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, written by Jude Atemanke. It has been adapted by CNA.


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Catholic diocese in Nigeria urges prayers for ‘speedy release’ of kidnapped priest

March 19, 2021 CNA Daily News 0

CNA Staff, Mar 19, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- A Catholic diocese in Nigeria appealed on Thursday for prayers for the “speedy release” of a priest abducted March 15.

Fr. Benedict Okutegbe, administrator of Sacred Heart Cathedral in the Diocese of Warri, said March 18: “Please, join us in prayer for the speedy release of Fr. Harrison Egwuenu who was kidnapped at about 8 p.m. on Monday at a bad spot in Oria-Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area, and for peace and security in Nigeria.”

Okutegbe told ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, that the priest was returning to St. George’s College, Obinomba, Delta State, where he was recently appointed principal, when he was “kidnapped by armed gunmen who took him to an unknown destination.”

“The authorities have been notified and a manhunt has been launched for the abductors,” he said.

Okutegbe, who previously served as Warri diocese’s director of social communications, described Egwuenu as a “dedicated and hardworking priest.”

The West African nation has faced growing insecurity since 2009 when the Islamist group Boko Haram launched an insurgency. The group has orchestrated terrorist attacks on various targets, including religious and political groups as well as civilians.

Insecurity has also increased due to the actions of the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen who have clashed frequently with Christian farmers over grazing land.

Last December, Bishop Moses Chikwe, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Owerri, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen and later released unharmed.

In November, unknown gunmen kidnapped Fr. Matthew Dajo during an attack on the town of Yangoji, where his parish is located. They freed him 10 days later.

Okutegbe told ACI Africa: “This has nothing to do with religion. One can say it is simply a reflection of the collapse of the security apparatus of the state and country. No one seems to be safe anymore.”

Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have repeatedly called on the government to do more to protect its citizens.

“It is just unimaginable and inconceivable to celebrate Nigeria at 60 when our roads are not safe; our people are kidnapped, and they sell their properties to pay ransom to criminals,” members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria said in an Oct. 1 statement, marking the country’s independence anniversary.

They added: “Nigerians are experiencing an invasion of their farmlands by armed Fulani herdsmen; a group well organized and already designated as the fourth deadliest terrorists’ group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index.”

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, written by Jude Atemanke. It has been adapted by CNA.


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Nigerian bishop laments continuing insecurity since seminarian’s killing a year ago

February 15, 2021 CNA Daily News 0

Sokoto, Nigeria, Feb 15, 2021 / 07:19 pm (CNA).- One year after the burial of Michael Nnadi, an 18-year-old Nigerian seminarian abducted and killed by gunmen, the local bishop has indicated his sorrow at the lack of progress in preventing abductions and murders.

“It is quite tragic that one year later, we are still closer to nowhere we hope to be. The harvest of death has gotten richer, more and more people are dying,’ Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto said to journalists following a Feb. 12 memorial Mass.

“Things have gotten progressively worse as far as the lives of our ordinary people are concerned,” Bishop Kukah said in Sokoto’s Holy Family Cathedral.

He added, “It is a matter of great concern and great sadness that we haven’t come anywhere close to securing our people and securing our country.”

Nnadi was taken by gunmen from Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna around 10:30 pm on Jan. 8, 2020, along with fellow seminarians Pius Kanwai, 19; Peter Umenukor, 23; and Stephen Amos, 23. The four seminarians were at the beginning of their philosophy studies.
All but Nnadi were released by the end of January, but on Feb. 1, 2020 Bishop Kukah announced that Nnadi had been found dead.

Bishop Kukah described Michael’s death as a “message of renewal” for Africa’s most populous country.

“Amid all this trouble, we as Christians have a message of renewal that this is not where God wants our country to be,” Bishop Kukah said.

He added, “We believe in the supremacy of His will and we also believe that amid all these confusion, death, unnecessary blood-shedding, that He has a message for us, and the message is for us to urgently think about building our country.”

“There is a saying in Christianity that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity. Our religion has never triumphed because of patronage or government or because of the amounts of kingdoms that we run,” the bishop said.

In honor of the slain seminarian, the bishop’s residence has been renamed Michael Nnadi House.

The bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Kaduna have also approved the construction of a shrine at Good Shepherd Seminary in honor of Nnadi.

“In future,” Bishop Kukah said, “we hope to advance the course for Michael for him to be recognized by the Catholic Church as a martyr.”

According to the bishop, Michael’s course for sainthood should be advanced because “we have never had that kind of experience. That the people who killed him, actually came and testified that they killed Michael because he was preaching to them and telling them that what they were doing was not right.”

Mustapha Mohamed, one of Michael’s killers, said they murdered Nnadi because he “continued to preach the gospel of Christ” to his captors.


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Southern California Catholics pray for kidnapped Nigerian Bishop with strong ties to the area

December 30, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

CNA Staff, Dec 30, 2020 / 05:29 pm (CNA).- Priests and parishioners in Southern California are praying for the safe return of Bishop Moses Chikwe, the auxiliary bishop of Owerri Archdiocese in Nigeria, who served for several years in the Diocese of San Diego as a priest before returning to his country.

Bishop Moses was ordained a priest on July 6, 1996, in Nigeria, after which he completed his Master’s degree in educational administration at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. in education at UCLA. Fr. Moses served for six years as a priest in residence at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in downtown San Diego and at the VA Hospital in La Jolla as chaplain; he also frequently said Mass at St. Mark’s parish in San Marcos, CA.

He returned to his home diocese to where he became director of education and was ordained Auxiliary Bishop on December 12, 2019, but he kept “strong ties with the community and came back during the summer for four consecutive years, except for this last summer,” Fr. Bruce Orsborn, pastor of St. Mark’s and a good friend of Bishop Moses told CNA.

During his summer visits, then-Fr. Moses would resume celebrating masses and preaching at St. Mark’s. “Everybody loves Fr. Moses, he is extremely humble and gentle, and he is very intelligent, he is extremely prayerful and people were amazed at his homilies,” said Fr. Orsborn.

Fr. Peter M. Escalante, current pastor of Mission San Diego de Alcala and former pastor of the Cathedral in downtown San Diego, told CNA that “it was in mid-2008 that he took residence at St. Joseph’s Cathedral while completing his doctoral studies at UCLA and working on his dissertation. He helped with daily and weekend masses at the Cathedral and he is still fondly remembered there.”

Fr. Escalante has maintained a friendship with Bishop Moses, even traveling to Nigeria with two parishioners last December for the occasion of his Episcopal Ordination. “He is a wonderful human being and Churchman. We are praying fervently for his safety and release.”

In a December 29 statement, the Archbishop of Owerri Anthony Obinna urged “all Christ’s faithful and people of goodwill” to disregard reports that kidnappers had killed Bishop Moses. “This information is unconfirmed, misleading and does not come from the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri,” he added.

Fr. Orsborn sent an urgent email to all St. Mark’s parishioners, announcing a time of special prayer at St Mark’s for the safety of Bishop Moses. The prayer service will be held on Sunday, January 3 2021 at 2:30 pm.

 


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