Owerri, 26 May, 2023 / 9:05 pm (ACI Africa).
Nigeria’s Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri is appealing for prayers for the release of Fr. Matthias Opara, who was abducted on Friday, May 26 while returning from a Funeral Mass.
In a statement shared with ACI Africa hours following the abduction, the Chancellor of the Nigerian Archdiocese provides details about the abduction of Fr. Opara who he says serves as Parish Priest of Holy Ghost Obosima Catholic Parish of Owerri Archdiocese.
“He was kidnapped along Ejemekwuru-Izombe road while returning from a funeral,” Fr. Patrick Mbarah says in the statement based, he adds, on the directive of the Local Ordinary of Owerri, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji.
The Nigerian Archdiocese solicits for prayers that Fr. Opara, ordained a Priest on 14 July 1990, “may be released unharmed”.
The May 26 kidnapping of the Father-in-charge of the Catholic Parish in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area (LGA) of Nigeria’s Imo State is the latest in a series of abductions that have targeted members of the Clergy in Africa’s most populous nation.
