A band of unidentified gunmen have kidnapped a Catholic priest along with a seminarian in southern Nigeria, demanding a ransom of $120,000 for their release.
Father Chinedu Nwadike and a young seminarian named Emmanuel Nwafor were reportedly abducted Friday along the Okigwe-Enugu highway in Abia state as they were traveling to Enugu for an official assignment. Nwadike is a member of the Spiritan religious order and deputy registrar at Spiritan University Nneochi.
The kidnappers contacted the university asking for a ransom of 50 million Nigerian Naira ($120,000) to secure his liberation.
“We are pleading with them to release him unhurt because we don’t know where we can get such a huge amount they are demanding,” unnamed sources told the Vanguard, a Nigerian daily newspaper.
“The state and federal government should do something drastic about the security situation in Umunneochi,” the sources said. “Everybody is afraid of travelling. People are being kidnapped daily, especially on the expressway with the security agencies watching.”
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