Santus Gabriel

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Email: [email protected]

Website: holynamemissionaries.org

Bishop Michael Ekwoyi Apochi of the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, Nigeria, has called on the faithful to offer prayers for the urgent and safe release of the nine members of his Episcopal See kidnapped on February 6.

The Diocese confirmed, in a statement that was shared with ACI Africa on Tuesday, February 10, that kidnappers “in a swoop” took away nine parishioners of St. Paul's Parish, Utonkon, to an unknown destination. The attack is said to have happened at St. John of the Cross outstation, Ojije-Utonkon.

In the statement, the Local Ordinary of the Nigerian Diocese described the incident as “deeply saddening and unfortunate,” urging all those under his Pastoral care to offer spiritual solidarity with the victims, who were in the Church for a prayer at the time of the attack.

In his appeal for prayers to the Clergy, members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL), and the Laity, Bishop Apochi, who has been at the helm of the Otukpo Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, gave assurance that the Diocese is intensifying all possible efforts to secure the release of parishioners and entrusts them to the maternal care of Mother Mary.

“We commend our brothers and sisters and all those in the kidnappers' den throughout the country to the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for their speedy and safe release from the hands of their abductors,” the document read in part.

The February 6 kidnapping of the nine parishioners happened a day before another gunmen attack at the Holy Trinity Parish of Kafanchan Catholic Diocese, leading to the abduction of a Catholic Priest alongside 10 others.

In a statement issued February 7, the Chancellor of the Nigerian Episcopal See, Fr. Jacob Shanet, confirmed the kidnapping of Fr. Asuwaye from where he served as Parish Priest.

The February 7 incident, according to the Kafanchan Diocesan Chancellor, also “resulted in the killing of three people (Mr. Jacob Dan'azumi, Mr. Maitala Kaura, and Alhaji