Nigeria, kidnapped priests and killed ten years of violence

Federico is a statement – the Vatican city

Father Zhaidi Oblor, from the diocese of Aba, was kidnapped and then released; Father Pius Oujuni, from the diocese of Elorin, who miraculously managed to escape his kidnapping; Andrew Peter’s brother, a siyat doctor for the Ocean’s diocese, slaughtered barbarism. Take a look at the list of priests and doctors seminars who have been kidnapped and killed since 2015 in Nigeria makes one heart, because these names are not only raw statistics, but stories that talk about an endless criminal tendency.

Informed but necessary

Within just ten years, those who were taken into consideration to a study conducted by Nigerian Cartiatas in cooperation with the Catholic Secretariat were taken in the local episcopal conference, as 201 kidnappings occurred while killings were 15. The restrictions must be searched, according to the authors of the study, in the lack of financing and the possibility of a decrease in dialogue with diocese consultants and various religious institutes to obtain updated and coherent information. Therefore, the number of kidnapping and killing can be much greater.

Different reasons

“Of course, it is just a summary, but it is very disturbing,” notes Father Michael Banjo, Secretary -General of the Catholic Secretariat, notes that the Okijoy diocese recorded the largest number of kidnappings, while Kaduna took the sharp record of the killed priests. The report does not mention the reasons for intimidating priests and enemy, and they are kidnapped and are often killed, but Father Banjo has no doubt: «mainly, there are two reasons: the economy associated with rescue requests and attributed directly to the actions of fundamentalist religious terrorism.

Lifestyle lifestyle

The Nigerian bishops urged all the priests to maintain a sober lifestyle to avoid attracting the attention of criminals, and they strongly asked the authorities that believe that the circumstances to increase security in the country for all, not just for Christians. “Two weeks ago,” the Secretary -General of the Catholic Secretariat, at the end of his general assembly, said about the kidnappings and killings with the Nigerian President: On that occasion who made a call, not only submitting our report data, but also telling all citizens. The same episcopal conference urged all the parish priests to implement security in their religious structures to cooperate with police bodies.

Poverty and hope

Nigeria, the federal state that is the most overly overly population of the entire continent, which includes more than 215 million people, is still fighting poverty and corruption. “But – Father Bango says, there is no poverty because our country is poor, but because wealth is concentrated in a few hands. The church is confident that all citizens can participate actively in political life to try to produce transformations in society useful for the ordinary commodity. They have nothing.” The bishops also asked government institutions to use compassion with prisoners and change the death penalty.