A retired Anglican archbishop and his driver are still missing 10 days after they disappeared in southern Nigeria on a trip to a funeral, according to reports.
The Rev. Godwin Okpala, retired archbishop of Niger Province in southeastern Nigeria, was last seen on Dec. 6, when he set out from Nnewi, Anambra state for the funeral in Umuchu, Aguata County in the same state. Neither he nor his driver arrived at their destination, according to the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion.
The Diocese of Nnewi in February 1996 replaced the Diocese of Niger, and Okpala was consecrated as its first bishop in 1996 and third archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Niger before his retirement in 2019, according to The Living Church.
The Rev. Ndubuisi Obi, Anglican Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, said in a Dec. 7 statement that church leaders had not heard anything about his disappearance.
“There has been no communication, and neither he, his driver, nor the vehicle have been located,” Obi said. “We earnestly plead for your fervent prayers for their safety and swift return. The relevant authorities have been contacted, and we are hopeful and trusting in God’s divine intervention for a positive resolution.”
Southeast Nigeria, like other parts of the country, has continued to witness violence by Fulani herdsmen militia and other criminals. Church leaders have been killed or churches made to pay ransoms.
A Biafra secessionist movement has resurged in the region, and the Nigerian government has accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for attacks, though the group has repeatedly denied its involvement.
“IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria,” Nigerian news outlet Premium Times recently stated.
An attorney who was attacked on Dec. 5, a day before Okpala disappeared, at Anambra state’s Ezinifite-Aguata roundabout said the criminals masquerading as Biafra “freedom fighters” might also have kidnapped the archbishop, according to outlet Politics Nigeria.
“The armed group members, numbering over 15, also openly shouted ‘Biafra or nothing!’ amid war-grade shootings, raining of bullets,” Emeka Umeagbalasi told Politics Nigeria. “It is also our strong suspicion that the missing retired archbishop of the Nnewi Province of the Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Godwin Okpala, his driver and their Prado Jeep might have gone missing during the shooting spree and parade of the said Thursday, Dec. 5, in the hands of the armed counterfeit Biafra agitators who are likely to have taken them into captivity.”
Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.
