Unknown gunmen killed parish priest Father Luke Mewhenu Adeleke as he left Mass on Christmas Eve in Ogun state, southwest Nigeria, Vatican News reported Thursday.
Thirty-eight-year-old Father Adeleke was returning to his residence at St. Anthony Ijemo-Fadipe Parish of the Abeokuta Diocese after celebrating midnight Mass at Ogunmakin, an outstation of the parish, when he was accosted by gunmen.
“The attackers fired at his vehicle and the bullets hit his legs, making him lose a lot of blood and died in his car,” the Nigeria Catholic Network (NCN) reported, noting that the body of the slain priest “was later deposited at the mortuary in the Sacred Heart Hospital, Lantoro, Abeokuta.”
According to Father Gregory Fadele, the director of social communications for the diocese of Abeokuta, “Father Luke was the victim of an act of violence, we believe it was an attempted kidnapping, a kidnapping for the purpose of ransom.”
“The shots fired by the bandits were probably aimed at the tires of the vehicle in which he was traveling, instead they got into the car and hit him first in the leg and then in the other,” Father Fadele said.
Father Adeleke then tried to drive to the nearest hospital but before arriving, “he lost all his strength, lost consciousness and passed away,” Father Fadele said.
Father Adeleke’s funeral will take place Friday at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cathedral in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state.
Since the onset of Nigeria’s jihadist offensive in 2009, more than 36,000 people have been killed violently in the country.