A bishop from the Church of Nigeria and three evangelists have been kidnapped by separate gangs in Nigeria.
The Bishop of Jebba Diocese, Kwara State, the Rt Rev Oluwaseun Aderogba, was abducted with his wife and driver by gunmen on Sunday, June 12, after their car broke down on the Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway in Oyo State, south-west Nigeria.
“Before help could come, some armed men surrounded [the vehicle] and ordered them into the bush,” said the bishop’s chaplain, who evaded the kidnappers. “I fell flat on my belly to hide myself while they marched my bishop and wife deep into the forest.”
The Bishop of Jebba Diocese, the Rt Rev Oluwaseun Aderogba, and his wife were kidnapped after their car broke down.
Meanwhile in Kogi State, in north central Nigeria, gunmen kidnapped three evangelists on June 10 at Ejule in Ofu Local Government Area.
They have been named as evangelist Peter Adigidzi, Pastor Mike Baba and Pastor Sunday Abah.
On Sunday, May 29, the head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, the most Rev Dr Samuel Kanu Uche, and two clerics were kidnapped while travelling in Abia State, in south-east Nigeria. The men were released unharmed 24 hours later.
At the time of the kidnapping, the Christian Association of Nigeria pointed out that ten church clerics had already been abducted this year, and two had been killed by their captors.
Pray for our kidnapped brothers and sister and ask that they may have the patience to endure their ordeal. Ask for their safe and swift release. Ask that a solution is found to the wave of abductions and violence that has wracked Nigeria, much of it targeted against Christians.
