Gunmen invade Catholic church in Enugu, abduct Seminarian, worshipper during mass

Gunmen reportedly attacked St. Joseph Catholic Church, Inoyi, in the Affa community of Udi Local Government Area in Enugu State on Sunday morning, kidnapping a seminarian and a member of the congregation at a time when mass was being celebrated.

The attack was exposed by social media celebrity Sen Chijinkem Ugwuanyi in a post on Facebook.

In his post, he said that gunmen entered the church while mass was being conducted and kidnapped a seminarian who was presiding over the mass, along with a catechist and another member of the congregation.

As per Ugwuanyi, the kidnappers released the catechist but kept hold of the seminarian and another individual and took them to an unknown location.

Ugwuanyi further said that local youths had started a search for the kidnapped individuals from nearby bushes with caution because the attackers reportedly had greater firepower than the victims.

“The whole village is thrown into frenzy as the search continues,” he wrote, while calling on the government to intensify efforts to tackle rising insecurity in the area.

In a separate Facebook post, another user shared a video purportedly from the scene, alleging that kidnappers attacked St. Joseph Catholic Church, Inoyi, Affa, and appealed to the Enugu State Government to intervene.

As of the time of filing this report, the Enugu State Police Command had not issued an official statement on the incident.