Nigeria: Four nuns kidnapped

Saviourite Sisters

Source: Fides

Four nuns of the Sisters of Jesus the Saviour have been kidnapped in Nigeria.

Sisters Johannes Nwodo, Christabel Echemazu, Liberata Mbamalu and Benita Agu were abducted while traveling on the Okigwe-Umulolo road in the Okigwe Local Government Area (Imo) in south-east Nigeria on Sunday, 21 August The Secretary General of the Sisters of Jesus the Saviour (Saviourites) Generalate, Sister Zita Ihedoro broke the news in a press release dated August 21, 2002.

Kidnappings are increasing in the region between Okigwe and Leru between Imo and Abia states. The latest incident came about nine days after gunmen kidnapped a Catholic priest and a seminarian along the Obigwe-Umunneochi road between the two states. The two men were released shortly afterwards by their kidnappers.

The Sisters, also known as Saviourites Sisters (SJS) are a religious congregation founded in 1985 in the Diocese of Port Harcour (Rivers State in southern Nigeria). The Congregation is dedicated to caring for the sick and suffering people of God, especially the disabled, the poor, the elderly and the abandoned.

Regarding the kidnapping of the four nuns, the auxiliary bishop of Minna, Luka Sylvester Gopep, said: "Unfortunately, the situation in our beloved Nigeria is not improving, but we still look to the future with trust in God."