Nigeria: Three monks kidnapped from Benedictine monastery

Image: Eruku Monastery Facebook

Source: Fides

A novice and two postulants were kidnapped from a Benedictine monastery in the Nigerian state of Kwara. At one o'clock on the night of October 17, an armed group, believed to be Fulani herdsmen, entered the Benedictine monastery of Eruku in Kwara State, north-central Nigeria.

The attackers kidnapped Brother Godwin Eze, a novice monk, and two postulants, Anthony Eze and Peter Olarewaju. The news of the kidnapping of the three members of the Benedictine Order follows the news of the release of the three women religious who were kidnapped in the southeastern state of Ebonyi.

Kidnapping has become a real 'industry' in Nigeria, which does not spare priests, men and women religious, but affects all social groups. Meanwhile, news comes from Kwara State that the wife and two children of MP Soliu Ayanshola, representing Ipaiye/Malete/Olooru Constituency of Moro Local Government in the House of Representatives in the state, have been released.

The MP's family members were kidnapped by gunmen on October 16. They were freed on October 18 thanks to an operation by the security forces that resulted in the arrest of the five members of the kidnappers' gang.