Gunmen Kill 2nd Abducted Priest in Nigeria

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ABUJA (Worthy News) – A Catholic priest has been killed by kidnappers while on his way to Sunday Mass in Nigeria’s southern Edo State, hours after another priest was murdered, his church confirmed Sunday.

The 41-year-old “was killed by his abductors after being kidnapped this morning 26th June 2022 at about 6:30 am in his rectory,” the Diocese added in a statement seen by Worthy News.

The gunmen killed him while he was organizing Sunday Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church in the Ikabigbo area of the town of Uzairue in Edo State, church sources said.

Until his death, Odia was the administrator of St. Michael Catholic Church in Ikabigbo and principal of St. Philip Catholic Secondary School in the state town, Jattu, officials said

Funeral arrangements were to be announced later. He died hours after suspected Islamic gunmen killed the chaplain of Africa’s most prominent technical school institute in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State.

Priest Vitus Borogo, 50, served Catholics at the Kaduna State Polytechnic before being murdered Saturday on a farm in the town of Kujama along the Kaduna-Kachia Road, confirmed the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna.

The priests were among the latest victims of anti-Christian attacks linked to Islamic extremism. Last year, Nigeria accounted for nearly 80 percent of Christian deaths worldwide, with more than 4,650 believers killed, according to advocacy group Open Doors.

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