This archive report was first published on 9 January 2020.
On Wednesday night, bandits attacked the Catholic Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kakau, northern Nigeria, abducting four seminarians.
The attackers also raided a customs office, seizing weapons and causing chaos.
Rev Fr (Dr) Joel Usman, the Registrar of the Seminary, confirmed the incident, saying, “Good Shepherd Major Seminary was attacked by armed bandits yesterday (Wednesday) between 10.30 and 11:00pm.”
He added, “After head count of students with security agents, four Seminarians have been declared missing. Kindly say a prayer for their release,”
Just hours later, on Thursday, gunmen kidnapped four officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at a check point in Dan-Bedi village along Jibia-Batsari road in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State, north-western Nigeria.
The attack and abduction of the customs officers happened less than 24 hours after unknown gunmen killed Dr Umar Isah, a senior lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Reports of banditry have been on the rise in Nigeria, with recent attacks in Kaduna and Niger states resulting in the deaths of several people.
