Unidentified gunmen stormed a Catholic parish church in northern Nigeria in the early hours of Wednesday and kidnapped four people, two of whom were priests.
The pastor of Saint Patrick’s Catholic Parish in Katsina State, Father Stephen Ojapah, was abducted around 1:00am Wednesday together with another priest named Father Oliver Okpara and two unidentified parish members who were visiting, local media reported.
The director of social communications of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Father Chris Omotosho, said the diocese has no information as to the whereabouts of the kidnapped priests but requested prayers for their “safety and release.”
The perpetrators of the kidnapping, who have been variously described as “terrorists” and “bandits,” reportedly arrived at the parish grounds in large numbers, shooting “sporadically” before making off with their captives.
This abduction comes just one day after gunmen killed at least twelve people at Gakurdi village, also in Katsina state. Attacking early Tuesday morning, the invaders arrived on four motorcycles and started shooting in the air to disperse the residents, an eyewitness reported. After striking the village, the raiders subsequently torched farmlands belonging to the residents.
A spokesman for the Katsina police command, Gambo Isah, said he had no information on the abduction as yet and no one has reported a ransom demand for the return of the clerics.
Katsina state has been the site of several abductions in recent years, including the kidnapping of nearly 700 students from a secondary school in late 2020 by members of the Islamic terror group Boko Haram.
In August 2021, motorbike-riding gunmen abducted nine students of an Islamic seminary in the village of Sakki, Katsina state, as they were heading home after school.