“Touch Not My Anointed and Do my prophet no Harm”

The headline reads “Priest kidnapped and murdered in Nigeria.” Another tragedy, another precious and sacred life lost, another human being has been killed. This was Reverend Fr Sylvester Okechukwu of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kafanchan, who was murdered a day after his abduction on March 4, 2025. What were the reactions, just words of condolences, just some superficial condolences and we moved on? This was not the first time I had seen this kind of unfortunate headline. When I thought all this was over, another tragedy happened. Andrew Peter, a seminarian abducted on March 3, 2025 in the Catholic Diocese of Auchi who was kidnapped alongside Fr. Philip Ekweli was murdered by his abductors according to an official statement from the Diocese, even though Fr. Philip Ekweli was released. The kidnapping of priests, sisters and seminarians has become a significant and recurring issue, reflecting the broader security challenges in Nigeria.

A country that loses the sense of the sacred is heading towards doom. I asked myself, how we got to a point where the value of human life does not seem to matter. Our Priests and Pastors have become targets to be killed and kidnapped. Which nations do this to her prophets? We have allowed Nigeria to be taken and overpowered by what Saint Pope John Paul II calls “the structure of sin.” These are the systemic conditions that perpetuate evil, injustice or moral decay not just at the individual level but at a societal level. In this case, it is the greed of the kidnappers, a government that fails its people and conditions that erode the value of the human person.

According to the organisation Aid to the Church in Need, five priests and two religious sisters have been kidnapped already in 2025 in Nigeria. No wonder being a priest now is one of the most dangerous jobs and if you doubt just Google it. Nigeria is ranked sixth on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. In 2022, the country was ranked number seven.

The Catholic Church in Nigeria has always called for peace, dialogue and harmony among people of different religious backgrounds and ethnic groups to shun violence and go by the way of peace. But the kidnapping of its priests is getting out of hand. It is not enough to condemn these acts, condemnation is not enough, condolence messages are not enough, protest is not enough what Nigeria needs is action. Action from our leaders, action from all the security outfits. Our Lives Matter. All lives matter. People cannot continue to be killed with impunity and all we get is a resounding silence.

The government must live up to its expectations of protecting lives and property. The rhetoric must be back up with action and perpetrators must be made to face the full wrath of the law. Nigeria is capable of dealing with this menace of kidnapping and insecurity. Our security agents must do better, they are able and capable. An animal that has tasted blood will want to come for more. This menace will not stop until these criminals are treated in the language that they understand.

Let us remember that “evil thrives when Good People do nothing.” May the souls of all those who have died as a result of the “structure of sin” in Nigeria rest in peace.

I am Gyang David Gyang. A Nigerian and a student of theology at Tangaza University, Nairobi -Kenya