Gunmen have reportedly invaded St. Joseph Catholic Church, Inoyi, in Affa, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, abducting a seminarian and at least one worshipper during a church service on Sunday morning.
The incident was disclosed in a Facebook post by popular social media influencer, Sen Chijinkem Ugwuanyi, who said the attackers stormed the church and kidnapped a seminarian who had come to celebrate Mass, a catechist and another worshipper.
According to him, the kidnappers later released the catechist but took the seminarian and the other victim into captivity.
Ugwuanyi added that local youths had launched a search operation in nearby bushes but were exercising caution due to the alleged superior firepower of the kidnappers.
“The whole village is thrown into frenzy as the search continues,” he wrote, while calling on the government to intensify efforts to tackle rising insecurity in the area.
In a separate Facebook post, another user shared a video purportedly from the scene, alleging that kidnappers attacked St. Joseph Catholic Church, Inoyi, Affa, and appealed to the Enugu State Government to intervene.
As of the time of filing this report, the Enugu State Police Command had not issued an official statement on the incident.
Gunmen invade Enugu Catholic church, kidnap seminarian, others