4 days nearest he was once kidnapped by way of gunmen alongside the Elele-Isiokpo Street within the Ikwere Native Executive Department of Rivers Situation, Rev. Father Livinus Maurice and two others have regained their self-rule.
PUNCH Metro recall that Father Maurice, who’s the Parish Priest of St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Isokpo, was once abducted age coming back from a sanatorium visitation at the side of two others whose identities are yet-to-be-ascertained endmost Wednesday.
Following the kidnapping, the Catholic Diocese of Port Harcourt to the behalf of the Bishop, Bernadine Anaele, in a remark, had referred to as for the unconditional leave of the priest.
The spokesperson for the surrounding police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, showed the leave of the trio in a remark in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
Iringe-Koko mentioned the manhunt introduced by way of the police yielded effects with the leave of the priest and the 2 others.
She mentioned they have been freed by way of their captors at about 6:30 am on Sunday because of the drive fastened by way of a group of policemen, squaddies from the Joint Activity Power and vigilantes.
The remark reads, “Please be told that as of late, February 16, 2022, at about 0630 hrs, data was once gained that the abducted sufferers, Rev. Maurice Livinus and others, had been spared by way of their captor.
“Their leave got here nearest drive from the blended efforts of the safety group comprising policemen, squaddies from the Joint Activity Power in Isiokpo, and the native vigilantes.
“The victims have been reunited with their families for medical attention, while efforts are ongoing to arrest the culprits.”
In the meantime, some yet-to-be-identified assailants have kidnapped a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Jude Onyeka in Onitsha, the industrial town of Anambra Situation.
Our correspondent accrued that the kidnapping of the priest took place within the early hours on Thursday, alongside the Development Fabrics Category in Ugwunwasike Redirection, Ogidi, Idemili North LGA of Anambra Situation.
Onyeka, a clergyman of the Onitsha Archdiocese, was once previously the Parish Priest of St. Edmund Catholic Church, Nkpor, related Onitsha, earlier than his fresh switch to St. Dominic Catholic Church, Abatete in Idemili North LGA.
The Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, Rev. Fr. Prudentus Aroh, needy the inside track of the kidnapping in a message he despatched to the Onitsha Archdiocesan Presbyterium platform on Saturday, in search of particular prayers for the guard go back of the lacking cleric.
Aroh mentioned that the incident passed off on Thursday night time, February 13, 2025, including that the kidnappers have no longer established any touch with the church or nation until now.
The message learn, “His Grace, Maximum Rev. Valerian M. Okeke, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Onitsha, invitations us to earnestly pray for his fast and guard leave as all efforts are being made to store his self-rule.
“We commend our brother, Fr. Jude, to the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests, for his speedy release from the hands of his abductors.”
When contacted at the construction, the spokesman for the Anambra Situation Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, mentioned the incident had no longer up to now been delivered to his consideration.