#BreakingNews Another Catholic Priest is Kidnapped and 50 Christians Killed - Please Pray for the Return of Fr. Leo Raphael Ozigi and the Victims, RIP

Father Leo Raphael Ozigi was kidnapped in March in Nigeria. Fr. Ozigi, parish priest of the church of St Mary, in the village of Sarkin Pawa, in the area of Munya, Niger state, was kidnapped by bandits, on Sunday, March 27th after Mass, along with 44 other villagers. This area is known as the Middle Belt, the central area that separates the Muslim-majority north from the Christian-majority south. He is the 3rd priest in Nigeria to be kidnapped in March, 2022.

Morning Star News also reported that, Fulani herdsmen on Thursday (March 24) killed an estimated 50 Christians and abducted a Catholic priest in attacks on communities in an area of Kaduna state, Nigeria, area sources said.

In late-night attacks on 10 predominantly Christian communities of Giwa County, herdsmen and others also took about 100 people captive and burned down a church building, area residents said.

“They also burned houses, stores and killed animals,” resident Nuhu Musa told Morning Star News by text message. “These attacks continued and lasted up to the morning of Friday, 25 March. They didn’t allow even the dead bodies to be buried, as they shot at mourners and those who returned to the villages to conduct funerals for those killed.” (Morning Star News)

 "Fr. Leo Raphael Ozigi was abducted while returning to Gwada after Sunday service from Sarkin Pawa", confirmed Rev. Raphael Opawoye, secretary of the Niger State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The village where the priest was abducted along with other residents is just one of at least six villages in Munya governorate that were attacked between Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March. Bandits laid siege to the Kuchi/Chibani link, raiding and looting villages along the road, forcing residents to flee. 
Raids in Niger state continued yesterday, March 28, when bandits raided the village of Kabo in Gurara local governorate, killing at least three people. In early March, local authorities said more than 200 gang members had been killed in a series of clashes with security forces. In addition to Father Ozigi, two other priests were kidnapped in Nigeria in March alone, both in the northern state of Kaduna: Father Joseph Akete Bako, parish priest of St. John's Church in Kudenda in the local government area of Kaduna South, kidnapped the night of 8 March in an assault on the parish house during which a person was killed and Fr. Felix Zakari Fidson, of the Diocese of Zaria, kidnapped on March 24.
Please Pray for their safe return and for the victims, RIP.
Sources: 

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