Brother Godwin Eze, one of three Benedictine monks kidnapped by an armed gang on the night of 17 October from the Eruku Monastery in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, has been killed by his captors.
The other two abducted postulants, Anthony Eze and Peter Olarewaj, were freed on 21 October. Brother Godwin Eze was killed on 18 October, a day after being taken by the gun men.
According to the two freed postulants, a large group of armed men, described as a gang of Fulani herdsmen, attacked the Monastery’s novitiate dormitory around 1 a.m. on 17 October. About 10 novices and postulants were in the building, sleeping. Three were captured and forced to walk barefoot into a forest. Upon reaching the bank of a river, the bandits shot Brother Godwin and threw his body into the water. The bandits then threatened the two postulants with machetes.
News of kidnapped Catholic priests, religious sisters, seminarians, novices and postulants or those attached to Church services in Nigeria has been relentless for some years now. Sometimes, the victims have been tortured or killed. Very few are released unscathed.
Apart from the tragic incidents involving the Benedictine Monastery on 5 October, this month alone, three Sisters of the Missionary Daughters of Mater Ecclesiae (MDME), a seminarian, Peter Eyakeno Sunday of the Missionary Sons of the Most Holy Trinity and Mr. Awoke Emmanuel, a driver were kidnapped. They were on their way to attend a funeral in another region of the country.