Hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped from a state boarding school in the north west Nigeria state of Zamfara last week have been released, a local official announced.

Sokoto, Nigeria, Feb 15, 2021 / 07:19 pm MT (CNA).- One year after the burial of Michael Nnadi, an 18-year-old Nigerian seminarian abducted and killed by gunmen, the local bishop has indicated his sorrow at the lack of progress in preventing abductions and murders. “It is quite tragic that one year later, we are still

At least one of 276 schoolgirls abducted from a boarding school seven years ago has escaped captivity, Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors UK and Ireland reports.

One of Nigeria's most senior bishops has blamed government apathy for the recent surge in abductions of the clergy.

Nigeria is about evenly divided: a little more than half the country’s 206 million people are Muslim, a little fewer than half are Christian. In the northern part of the country, Islam stands as the dominant faith, while Christianity stands in the South – but most of the killings take place in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where the halves of the country meet. While religion was not originally an issue linked to conflict in Nigeria, it has risen to the fore.

Open Doors, the charity supporting persecuted Christians around the world, published its 2021 list of the countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution

The diocese in southeastern Nigeria announced late on Jan. 1 that Bishop Moses Chikwe and his driver, Ndubuisi Robert, had been released by their abductors “unhurt and without ransom.”

Then-Father Moses Chikwe studied at Loyola Marymount University and UCLA. He served six years as priest-in-residence at St. Joseph’s Cathedral and as chaplain to the La Jolla VA hospital, and frequently said Mass at St. Mark's parish in San Marcos, CA.