Over the weekend, two priests were murdered in Nigeria, one each in the states of Kaduna and Edo.
In a statement provided to ACI Africa, the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Kaduna stated that Fr. Vitus Borogo, a priest assigned to the Archdiocese of Kaduna, was slain on June 25 “at Prison Farm, Kujama, along Kaduna-Kachia Road, after a raid on the farm by Terrorists.”
The 50-year-old priest served as Kaduna State Polytechnic’s Catholic chaplain.
Around 6:30 am on June 26 in Edo state, Fr. Christopher Odia was abducted from his rectory at St. Michael Catholic Church, Ikabigbo, Uzairue. The Diocese of Auchi has reported that his kidnappers killed him.
Fr. Odia, 41, was the St. Michael’s administrator and the headmaster of St. Philip Catholic Secondary School in Jattu.
A Mass server and a neighborhood watch volunteer who pursued the kidnappers were shot, according to a Nigerian newspaper called The Sun.
Nigeria has the highest rate of Christian murders worldwide, with approximately 900 deaths alone in the first three months of 2022 and at least 4,650 in 2021.
Despite being the most heavily fortified state in Nigeria, Kaduna state has turned into “an epicenter of kidnapping and violence by non-state actors,” claims the UK-based human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
More than 30 worshipers were reportedly abducted in Kaduna state’s Catholic and Baptist churches earlier this month, while on June 5, more than 40 Christians were killed in an attack on a Catholic church in Ondo state.