Bandits murder seminarian at Nigerian presbytery

A seminarian died last night when extremists torched a presbytery in Nigeria’s Kafanchan Diocese. The incident took place about 8pm on September 7 when Fulani bandits attacked and set fire to the rectory of St Raphael’s parish in Fadan Kamantan, Kaduna State. According to Bishop Julius Kundi of Kafanchan, parish priest Father Emmanuel Okolo and the assistant priest were able to escape the fire, but seminarian Na’aman Danlami, 25, died in the attack. Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Kundi said: “The attackers were aiming to kidnap the parish priest. “When they failed in their attempt to enter the father's house, they set it on fire. The two priests were able to escape but, terribly, the seminarian was burned inside. “The assault lasted more than an hour, but there was no reaction or support from the military forces. A kilometre away there is a checkpoint, but there was a total absence of reaction.” Bishop Kundi added: “It’s a terrible loss. We recovered the body of Na’aman Danlami this morning and took it to the morgue. “This seminarian is the second member we have lost in the diocese at the hands of terrorist attacks by Fulani bandits. “Last year Father John Mark Cheitnum, director of communications of the Diocese of Kafanchan, was kidnapped and brutally murdered.” Another seminarian, Ezequiel Nuhu, was abducted in Kaduna yesterday, along with his father. He was studying for the priesthood in Abuja but had gone to Southern Kaduna to holiday with his family. The Church in Nigeria has suffered from ongoing attacks against members of the clergy. In 2022 four priests were killed in the country and 28 were kidnapped, and this year, 2023, the number of clerics kidnapped has already reached fourteen. ACN is calling for prayers for the repose of the soul of Na’aman Danlami and for the quick release of Ezekiel Nuhu. So far this year, 13 clergymen have been taken captive in Nigeria and later freed, but three priests kidnapped in previous years are still missing and two others were murdered, according to official data obtained by ACN. Between January 2021 and June 2022, more than 7,600 Nigerian Christians were killed and 5,200 kidnapped, according to the findings of ACN’s 2022 Persecuted and Forgotten? – A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith. In 2022, Nigeria ranked sixth in the Global Terrorism Index and was placed 143rd out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index. Megan Meador, Communications Officer for the faith-based legal advocacy organization, Alliance Defending Freedom International, said the past 20 years have been marked by a decreasing trend of religious tolerance in Nigeria, particularly in the North. Of the Christians who were killed last year because of their faith, 90 per cent were Nigerian, she said in an interview last month with Crux. According to an April report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), an NGO headquartered in Eastern Nigeria, at least 52,250 people have been killed over the last 14 years in Nigeria because they were Christian. <em>(Photo courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need)</em>