He continued, “The more the formator is with a Seminarian the better. But at the moment, however, we are having formators who are coming and going back to the places where they stay.”
“If it were possible, we would have a bigger Fathers’ house that can take in every member of the formation team. This should even foster the spirit of unity in the Seminary,” he said in the January 12 interview
“In the meantime, we do what we can to form these young men,” Fr. Sakaba said, and added, in an appeal for support of Good Shepherd Major Seminary, “In addition to prayers, we need material support; we need physical protection from the attacks.”
“Here, we need more accommodation for our formators. Space within the Fathers’ house is not sufficient to accommodate them at the moment. If we had help, we would erect a rectory that would house them all so that they won’t have to risk their lives traveling to-and from this place on a daily basis,” said the Rector of the Seminary, which was attacked in January 2020 in a kidnapping incident in which a Seminarian, Michael Nnadi, was killed.
“As formators, we can do more if we get material support to assist in the formation of our Seminarians, to represent not only the Church in Nigeria but also the universal Church,” the Nigerian Catholic Priest told ACI Africa.
He said that the Seminary, which has a current enrolment of 265 Seminarians in theology and philosophy faculties, has remained resilient since the 2020 kidnapping incident. Last year, Good Shepherd Major Seminary registered an enrolment of 261 Seminarians.
“The numbers have been growing since the 2020 attack,” he said, and added, “We believe that the Gospel message is more and more being desired in the part of Nigeria. The seed of the gospel is very active and strong despite the persecution. More people go to Church in parts of Nigeria that are experiencing Boko Haram attacks and other activities of the bandits.”
In his January 12 interview with ACI Africa, Fr, Sakaba addressed the spirituality of martyrdom that has been found to be taking root in Nigerian seminaries. The spirituality has been brought to the fore by seminaries who shared that they were ready to die for their faith after surviving kidnapping by jihadists and other criminal gangs in Nigeria.
The priest also shared that since the 2020 attack at Good Shepherd Major Seminary, the institution has had an air of uncertainty.
He said that some of the kidnappers who were arrested in the incident had been released, a situation he said had plunged the seminary into “fear of the unknown.”
