kidnapped Nigerian priest and seminarian have been freed “both fine, alive and healthy” after 3 weeks of “traumatizing experience” in captivity.
Nigeria Christians are jubilating following the release of Father Paul Sanogo and Brother Melchior Mahinini, of the Missionaries of Africa (also known as the White Fathers), who were abducted on August 2.
Father Paul Sanogo and Brother Melchior Mahinini were kidnapped from their parish residence by criminals in the Minna diocese, Niger State three weeks prior to their release.
The victims were released on Wednesday, August 23 according to a Thursday statement released by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Reacting to their release, Father Dennis Dashong Pam, provincial superior of the Missionaries of Africa in Ghana-Nigeria noted that “they are both fine, alive and healthy, despite the traumatizing experience they went through in the hands of their abductors. I am very happy, and just like many of our confreres, we feel relieved. We have been thinking very much about their families who have been unable to sleep; it has been three weeks,” he said in a statement sighted by ACN.
“Their release is a confirmation of your fervent prayers and support,” he added, further expressing gratitude to diocesan authorities for providing “the right advice, strategies, and logistics.”
“We pray for the conversion of those who continue to think that the easiest way to make money is by hurting others,” he concluded.
So far this year, 13 clergy have been abducted and later freed, but three priests – kidnapped in 2022 – remain missing. Two others have been murdered, according to statistics from Aid to the Church in Need.
They report, that between January 2021 and June 2022, more than 7,600 Nigerian Christians were killed and 5,200 kidnapped.