Our Priests and Nuns are Not for Sale, Nigerian Archbishop on Increased Kidnappings

There have been multiple cases of kidnapping and other acts of violence meted against Religious people in Nigeria, a situation that the Nigerian Archbishop refers to as “a disease that is spreading without any significant effort being made to stop it.”

A report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) last year indicated that at least 20 clergymen among them Catholic Priests and Seminarians had been killed in the West African nation of Nigeria since June 2015, while another 50 had been abducted.

In one of the recently reported kidnappings, Bishop Moses Chikwe of Owerri Archdiocese, in December last year kidnapped alongside his driver and released last month after spending about a week with his kidnappers.

In a statement shared with ACN, the Nigerian Prelate notes that kidnappers target the Catholic Church which is “distinguished by its visibility, respect and recognition in the country” in a bid to create more impact.

“Criminals, bandits or whatever you call them are aware that when they touch a Catholic Priest or Nun, it quickly becomes news, and they believe that this forces the government to take it seriously,” he says.

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“It’s a strategy of the terrorists,” he further says, adding in reference to abductors, “They attack where the repercussions are strongest, and that is what they achieve by attacking Catholic Priests and Religious.”

He says that kidnappings have been going on for a long time in Nigeria but that “people thought it would not happen to religious leaders. So, when it does happen, it is big news”

The Archbishop stresses that while it is a very sad fact that the country’s religious leaders are being kidnapped and killed, there are other Nigerians who are suffering the same fate.

“They are what I would call silent victims, and there are many of them,” the 62-year old Archbishop says.

He regrets that hundreds and thousands of people are being killed in different parts of the country and that nothing concrete is being done about it.

The Archbishop believes that there are several motives behind the abductions, key being economic and religious.

He says that there are economic kidnappings perpetrated by criminals who are only looking for quick money, “who hold people hostage and ask for ransom of millions of naira.”

There are also religious fundamentalists who seek territorial expansion, “to conquer those they consider infidels, and Christians are number one on their list,” the Archbishop says, adding that bandits also attack and kill Muslims who do not profess the same worship as them.

According to the Archbishop, there are also those who are simply religious fanatics. These, he explains, have forgotten what they want, but they are redoubling their efforts to kill and destroy.

Archbishop Kaigama says there is an urgent need for the Nigerian Government to address the kidnappings by training security agents to act more effectively.

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“At this stage one would expect that with all the money being managed by politicians, the government would invest more in buying sophisticated equipment to prosecute criminals,” he says, and adds, “Unfortunately, security agents earn very little and have to deal with criminals who have more sophisticated weapons and end up defeating and killing them.”

He urges the Nigerian government to manage its resources well and to take care of the security officers who he says are in the front line against criminal gangs in the country. 

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.