By Josef Ishu

Three seminarians have been kidnapped and six others injured when gunmen suspected to be bandits attacked Christ the King Major Seminary domiciled within the St. Albert the Great Institute of Philosophy situated at Fayit community, Kagoma Chiefdom in the Jama’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okolo disclosed the figures in a circular on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 addressed to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), the Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaduna Province, priests, religious and lay faithful of Kafanchan Dioceses.

Fr Okolo said the attack took place on Monday, October 11, 2021 at about 7:26pm, in the Chapel of the Seminary.

The Chancellor disclosed further that at the time of the attack to the formators including the Rectors of the Seminary and the Institute, there were 132 seminarians, 6 non-seminarians, one female non-academic staff and one steward were on ground. “Six seminarians sustained various degrees of injuries. A dispatch of soldiers of the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) was on ground to accompany some formators and the injured seminarians to Salem Hospital in Kafanchan. There, they were treated and discharged after being confirmed to be stable.”.

He said from the narrative of the Seminary security agents, the law enforcement personnel and the headcount conducted after Mass on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, confirmed that three theology Four Seminarians were abducted. “These Seminarians belong to the Apostles of Divine Charity and the Little Sons of the Eucharistic Congregation,” Fr. Okolo revealed.