Edo: Bishop begs Tinubu, security agencies to rescue kidnapped seminarians

The Catholic Bishop of Auchi Diocese, Gabriel Dunia, has called on President Bola Tinubu, Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo and the security agencies to expedite action and rescue two abducted seminarians whose ordeal in the den of their captors was recently captured in a viral video.

In a statement signed by the Diocese’s Director of Communications, Reverend Peter Egielewa, on Thursday, the Bishop said he was deeply hurt that his seminarians had been with armed strangers for 35 days and urged people to pray for their release.

He particularly appealed to the president, the governor and all security agencies in the country to do the needful and help rescue the seminarians from the hands of the kidnappers.

DAILY POST reports that the viral video showed two young children clutching what appears to be a human skull, crying, and pleading for their release while surrounded by gun-wielding men.

The church confirmed in its statement that the children in the footage are two of the three seminarians kidnapped when gunmen attacked the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhianokpodi-Agenebode, in the Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State, on July 10, 2025.

“As the chief shepherd of the Diocese, I feel personally hurt and disturbed that my seminarians, our children, have been living with armed strangers for 35 days now. I find it difficult to sleep these days because of this. We have been praying since their kidnap, and again I call on people everywhere to please pray with us,” the Bishop said.