Nigerian priest abducted by gunmen after Sunday Mass
Fr. David Echioda of Nigeria’s Otukpo diocese was kidnapped after Sunday Mass in Benue State, the Nigerian Tribune reported March 3. The priest, who works at the minor seminary in Ochobo, had been doing missionary outreach, the Diocese of Otukpo told the Tribune.
Another Catholic priest in Nigeria has been kidnapped by gunmen, according to local media reports.
The kidnapping is the latest in a series of abductions and killings in Nigeria which have involved Catholics and other Christians; clergy, seminarians, and lay people.
Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja called on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to address the violence and kidnappings in his homily March 1 at a Mass with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.
On Feb. 27, U.S Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told CNA that the situation in Nigeria was deteriorating.
“There’s a lot of people getting killed in Nigeria, and we’re afraid it is going to spread a great deal in that region,” he told CNA. “It is one that’s really popped up on my radar screens — in the last couple of years, but particularly this past year.
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