Gunmen invade Bishop Kukah’s church, abduct priests

<p><strong>Gunmen believed to be terrorists on Wednesday morning broke into one of the parishes in Katsina State&comma; presided over by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto&comma; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Matthew Hassan-Kukah<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The armed hoodlums kidnapped two priests and two others in the rectory of St&period; Patrick’s Catholic Church&comma; Gidan Maikambo&comma; in the Kafur Local Government Area of Katsina State&comma; according to <em>PUNCH<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kukah’s Sokoto Diocese covers Katsina&comma; Zamfara&comma; Sokoto and Kebbi states&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Director&comma; Social Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto&comma; Rev&period; Fr Christopher Omotosho&comma; confirmed the development on Wednesday morning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto is under attack and no information has been got as to the whereabouts of the abductees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Omotosho said&comma;<em><strong> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As at midnight of today&comma; 25th May&comma; 2022&comma; gunmen broke into the rectory of St&period; Patrick’s Catholic Church&comma; Gidan Maikambo&comma; Kafur LGA of Katsina State&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The parish priest and his assistant Rev&period; Frs&period; Stephen Ojapa&comma; MSP&comma; and Oliver Okpara and two boys in the house were kidnapped&period; No information as to their whereabouts&period; Kindly pray for their safety and release&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On May 14&comma; rampaging hoodlums torched and vandalised some parishes presided over by Kukah in Sokoto following his condemnation of the gruesome murder of Deborah Yakubu by her Muslim colleagues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;faan-speaks-on-crashed-plane-in-lagos&sol;">FAAN Speaks On Plane That Crash Landed In Lagos<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>The 200-level Home Economics student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto was accused of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The rioters also burnt some parts of Kukah’s church buildings and set a bus ablaze in one of the premises&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Sokoto religious-tainted riot has extended to some parts of Bauchi and Abuja in the last few days while security agents and some northern governors have warned against religious violence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;