Two more priests kidnapped by jihadists in Nigeria

Two more priests were kidnapped recently in Nigeria by jihadists, as Christian persecution continues in a country that, paradoxically, is experiencing exponential growth in Catholicism.

Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu, the parish priest of Holy Family Catholic Church in Izombe, in Imo State in southeastern Nigeria, was taken captive on Sunday, March 23, on his way to the Priests’ Annual Retreat.

The kidnapping was confirmed in a March 24th statement signed by Fr. Patrick Mbarah, the Archdiocesan chancellor.

“I am directed to inform you that one of our priests, Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu was kidnapped on the evening of Sunday, 23 March 2025. … The said incident occurred along Ejemekwuru road in Oguta Local government Area of Imo State,” he said in the statement.

“We invite all Christ’s Faithful and all men and women of goodwill to earnestly pray for the quick and safe release of our priest,” the statement reads.

Fr. Mbarah then entrusted the kidnapped priest to “the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Priests, for his speedy release from the hands of his abductors.”

On the same day, a joint security team consisting of police, army, civil defense, and vigilante groups succeeded in securing the release of Fr. Stephen Echezona, who was kidnapped earlier.

Fr. Echezona was kidnapped while refueling his car at a petrol station in Ichida, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The state police public relations officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said that the priest was released unharmed after an encounter with his abductors in Ihiala. A joint security team engaged the armed criminals, who were operating in a white Lexus SUV without a license plate, in a gunfight, and successfully overpowered them. The assailants abandoned the vehicle and attempted to flee, taking Fr. Echezona hostage. The security operatives subsequently recovered the vehicle.

“In a coordinated hot chase by the operatives, different security checkpoints and security operatives in the state were alerted,” the officer said, “which resulted in the criminals abandoning the Priest at Ihiala and escaping through a nearby bush.”

The kidnapping of the two priests is part of a larger pattern of violence targeting Catholic clergy and the broader Christian community in Nigeria.

According to Pontifical charity, Aid to the Church in Need, the latest kidnappings make it a total of twelve such abductions since the beginning of the year. Two of them—Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu and seminarian Andrew Peter—were murdered by their kidnappers.

Catholic bishops in Nigeria recently released a report stating that 145 Catholic priests had been kidnapped in Nigeria over the past ten years. Eleven of those priests were killed.

“Many priests have been kidnapped, some killed and others released only after heavy ransom payments,” said the Bishop of Nigeria’s Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah.

Emeka Umeagbalasi, board chair of the Catholic-inspired NGO International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) says the bishops’ report is a big step in fostering accountability, but the figures could be misleading.

“I am confident that the number of Catholic priests abducted in the past decade is no less than 250,” said Umeagbalasi, whose NGO monitors Christian persecution.

“When you include nuns … as well as seminarians who have been abducted, I believe the total nears 250. This figure does not account for Anglican priests, Pentecostal pastors, or leaders … from various African-instituted churches who might also have been kidnapped,” he told CWR.

He said while highlighting the violence on clergy is important it is necessary to view it in relation to the larger problem of Christian persecution in Nigeria, a country in which at least 52,000 Christians have been killed since 2009, according to Intersociety.

The abductions and killings are carried out mostly by Islamic/jihadist groups like Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP as well as Fulani jihadists, according to Intersociety.

Umeagbalasi accused the Nigerian military of standing by as Christians have been massacred.

“What we have in Nigeria is a jihadist military,” he told CWR.

Bishop Kukah puts the whole thing down to the incapacity of the governing elite to adequately address the problems facing Nigerians today.

“Nigeria has been a difficult place for its citizens after years and years of misrule and outright banditry at the highest levels as those in power have turned governance into a purely criminal enterprise by the mindless looting of the treasury by successive governments,” the cleric said.

He particularly pointed an accusing finger at the Buhari administration for “combining nepotism, policies of exclusion and the undue favoritism of the northern Muslim elite,’ thereby creating “a conducive environment for the spread of extremist Islamic groups who saw his stance on Islam as giving a signal to them. Thus, it was merely a question of strategies for Islamic supremacy.”

As Christians come under increasing attack in Nigeria, there are growing calls on the US government to redesignate the African nation as a Country of Particular Concern.

A CPC refers to a nation placed on a special watchlist due to “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom” affecting its citizens.

The debate recently found its way to the US Congress, with the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, along with the Bishop of Makurdi in Nigeria’s Benue State, Mgr. Wilfred Anagbe, both calling on the Trump administration to re-designate Nigeria as a CPC Country.