The seminary, which trains students for Roman Catholic priesthood, is located in Kakau village along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.
“The Good Shepherd Major Seminary was attacked by armed bandits yesterday, Jan. 8, between 10:30-11 p.m.,” Usman said. “After a head count of students with security agents, four seminarians have been declared missing.”
Contacted by phone, Usman told Morning Star News, “Yes, we were attacked last night as I said in the statement I issued earlier this morning. Kindly pray for the release of these students.”
ISWAP Executions
A break-away faction from Boko Haram, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), on Dec. 26 released a video in Nigeria of the terrorists executing 11 people whom they said were Christians.
Saying the executions were in retaliation for the killing of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an October U.S. raid in northwestern Syria and his likely successor in a separate attack, a voice on the video says those executed are Christians as a message “to the Christians in the world.”
The identities of those killed, however, were not known. Timed near Christmas for maximum media exposure, the video showed executions thought to be ordered by IS around the world since the killing of Baghdadi and his likely successor, IS spokesman Sheikh Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir.
The ISWAP faction left the Islamic extremist Boko Haram in 2016.
The 56-second video, released to Muslim Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida, shows the captives in orange tunics and kneeling as the terrorists stand behind them in black balaclavas. One captive is shot in the head, and the terrorists then slash the throats of the 10 others.
“This message is to the Christians in the world,” a voice-over says in Arabic and Hausa. “Those who you see in front of us are Christians, and we will shed their blood as revenge for the two dignified sheikhs, the caliph of the Muslims [Baghdadi], and the spokesman for the Islamic State, Sheikh Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, may Allah accept them.”
President Buhari commented through a media aide’s statement.
“We should, under no circumstance, let the terrorists divide us by turning Christians against Muslims, because these barbaric killers don’t represent Islam and millions of other law-abiding Muslims around the world,” Buhari said.
United Nation Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent condolences through his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, to families of the executed Christians and the Nigeria government.
“The secretary general is deeply concerned about reports that civilians have been executed, and others abducted, by an armed group in northern Borno State, northeastern Nigeria,” Dujarric said. “He expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and reiterates the solidarity of the United Nations with the people and government of Nigeria.”
Last month Boko Haram released a video of 11 men held captive, and one of them says Christians are among them. Identifying himself as Bitrus Bwala, a principal lecturer at the College of Education in Gashua, Yobe state, he pleads for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Nigeria’s government to urgently negotiate with the terrorists in order to save their lives.
Bwala says in the video that the captives saw Action Against Hunger aid workers before they were executed, and that captured Christian high school student Leah Sharibu “is still here.”
“We therefore appeal in particular to President Muhammadu Buhari to do whatever is within his reach to rescue us,” he says. “We equally appeal to our various governors to come to our aid and rescue us. The leadership of Christian organizations, we appeal to you to liaise with the federal government and push for the rescue of all captives here.”
The Rev. Samson Ayokunle, CAN president, said Bwala and the 10 other men in the video released in December were all Christians who were kidnapped on Nov. 27.
“The government has not secured their freedoms or said anything about them,” Ayokunle said in a statement. “If criminals are invading the Christian communities, killing and abducting unchallenged, what do we call it if it is not persecution? How many terrorists, Fulani herdsmen killers and bandits are in the custody of the security agencies? How many of them have been arraigned in court?”
Nigeria ranked 12th on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.
This article originally appeared here. If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit MorningStarNews.org for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
