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Violence against Christians in Nigeria is escalating at an alarming rate, and Catholic leaders warn that a coordinated campaign of persecution — marked by massacres and the routine abduction of clergy — has become a near-daily reality.
In one of the latest incidents, gunmen attacked a Catholic seminary in southern Nigeria July 10, killing a security officer and abducting three seminarians. The assault occurred around 9 p.m. at the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhiankokpodi, a town in Edo State’s Etsako East region.
The Diocese of Auchi confirmed the incident in a statement issued July 11. According to the diocese, the assailants shot and killed Christopher Awenegbieme, a security guard posted at the seminary, and forced three young seminarians to come with them into a nearby forest. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
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The diocese later confirmed that the attackers are demanding a ransom. Bishop Gabriel Ghieakhomo Dunia told Agenzia Fides July 15 that the three seminarians “are still in the hands of their kidnappers” and that “negotiations are currently ongoing.”
Bishop Dunia told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that the kidnapped seminarians are between 14 and 17 years old.
“We don’t even know for sure what [the kidnappers] want,” the bishop said. “But we see a growing pattern of attacks directed against Christian communities and institutions.”
He also voiced concern over the failure of local authorities to provide meaningful protection.
“I call on everyone, every person, to come to our aid: to pray for us, to make any effort, whatever it may be — material, spiritual, or human — that helps us contain insecurity,” he told ACN. “Our local efforts are being overwhelmed.”
Church authorities have since moved the remaining seminarians to a safer location. Father Peter Egielewa, director of communications for the diocese, appealed for public prayers and support, especially for the safe return of the abducted students and for the repose of the soul of the slain officer.
Earlier this year, Nigeria was once again named the world’s deadliest country for Christians, according to a report from religious freedom watchdog organization International Christian Concern.
The report found that more than 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria over the past two decades, with thousands more abducted. Boko Haram, Fulani militants, and similar groups are responsible for much of the violence, often targeting believers precisely because of their faith.
These ongoing assaults — particularly in rural areas with limited law enforcement — have made priests, seminarians, and church workers increasingly vulnerable, prompting international concern and calls for action.
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In June, Fulani militants murdered at least 200 displaced Christians in Yelwata — a massacre Church leaders described as the region’s worst atrocity to date.
Alongside the recent seminary abductions, the massacre reflects what Catholic leaders say is a systematic campaign of anti-Christian violence, not isolated acts.
Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, whose diocese includes the site of the June attack, has warned that the country is undergoing what he calls “a silent genocide” targeting rural Christian communities.
“The situation is very precarious, dangerous, I would say without hesitation,” he said, SIR Agenzia d’informazione reported July 10. “Attacks against Christian communities have become a recurring, almost daily fact.”
He described how the assaults often stretch on for days without government intervention, adding that Nigeria’s government “seems not to understand, or lives in a state of denial.”
Bishop Anagbe traced the roots of the violence to the early 2000s and the rise of Boko Haram, which, he says, began targeting schools, churches, and entire Christian villages under the claim that “Western civilization is evil.” Since then, other groups have splintered off from Boko Haram.
“The bandits occupied the North-West, while the Fulani terrorist herdsmen took control of the North-Centre, spreading the same terror, with the same objectives and tactics,” the bishop explained.
The destruction in the Diocese of Makurdi alone is staggering. From 2018 to 2025, the diocese lost 19 parishes and a convent, and was forced to close medical clinics and hospitals, SIR Agenzia d’informazione reported. Priests and religious have been displaced, along with thousands of faithful.
“They want to Islamise Nigeria, to transform it into the Islamic State of West Africa,” Bishop Anagbe warned. “It is a jihad, a war of ethnic cleansing, a genocide.”
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He recounted the horrors of the Yelwata attack, where militants doused homes in petrol and set them ablaze.
“When they attack a village, they massacre even newborn babies,” he said. “What is their crime?”
Calling for global action, Bishop Anagbe rejected claims that the violence stems from resource disputes or climate change.
“It is not the climate. It is not a conflict of interests. It is a direct attack on innocent citizens,” he said.
To European leaders and the global Church, he issued a plea.
“Stand firm with us in prayer, trusting that God will hear our cry,” he said. “But that is not enough: be our advocates, denounce this evil. Too many leaders want to be politically correct and remain silent, but this is genocide.”
Drawing a stark parallel, the bishop warned: “Like in Rwanda in 1994: the world remained silent and 800,000 people were killed. If we ignore this crisis, we will witness another genocide, with 230 million Nigerians fleeing.”
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