A month in chains: Nigerian priest abducted, forced to march barefoot forgives attackers
WASHINGTON — A Nigerian priest abducted by armed insurgents, forced to march barefoot for days and left chained up for over a month before his release is opening up about his road to healing as he seeks to help others who have suffered similar trauma.
During a Religious Freedom Roundtable discussion on Tuesday, Fr. Stephen Ojapah, author of Tears and Torture: 33 Days in Kidnappers Den, recalled the night of his abduction in May 2022.
On that night, Ojapah and four others, including Fr. Oliver Oparah, sought refuge at a parish in Nigeria’s Katsina state. The insurgents who stormed the parish, thought to be a jihadist group that had split from Boko Haram, rounded everyone up, but they could not identify which one was the priest.
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"I said, 'I am the priest,'" Ojapah recounted during the roundtable discussion. "So I begged them, 'Please, I know you have come for me. Release the other three and go with me.'"
Despite the priest's attempt to protect his flock, the insurgents abducted Ojapah's companions and forced the captives on a march that lasted two days.
Ojapah's kidnappers didn't allow him to put on shoes before they took him from the parish, so his feet were bleeding, and he struggled to stand throughout the journey.
After he noticed that the gunmen were smoking marijuana, which appeared to give them energy, the priest asked if he could have some. The insurgents gave Ojapah an energy enhancer instead, but since the priest did not have any food or water, the drug only made him weaker. Two of the priest's companions helped him keep moving by carrying him.
Eventually, the kidnappers forced their captives onto bikes to take them the rest of the way. Once they arrived at their destination, Ojapah said the captors began to beat and flog the group.
"When they finished flogging, they tied our legs with chains and kept us on the floor," the former captive recalled. "Rain fell on us, and the sun will shine on your head. And we remained in that situation for the next 33 days."
At some point, Ojapah and the others started to smell like toilets. According to the kidnapped priest, "the dirt became part of [them]," an experience that Ojapah noted was "humiliating."
After spending over 30 days in captivity, the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto paid what amounts to more than $30,000 in exchange for their freedom. The priest remembered that before his release, one of his captors asked him, "'Father, will you still forgive us after all we have done to you?'"
"Well, as a Christian and as a priest, I knew that I'm better off forgiving them," Ojapah told event attendees. "So, I told them to their faces, I said, 'Yes, truly I forgive you.'"
"And I meant it," he added. "And I still mean it because that actually helped me to begin to process my own healing and to become better, to be able to even contribute to humanity and to life."
Following his release, the priest started a project called the Trauma Victims Initiative, which seeks to support Nigerians who also faced a kidnapping experience. The initiative invites trauma victims to go through counseling sessions and share their stories.
Ojapah published his memoir in September about his healing from the trauma of the kidnapping experience. He said it offers a "vivid account of what victims of kidnapping go through in Nigeria, and the trauma many are living with daily."
In addition to uplifting trauma victims, Ojapah said helping Nigeria also requires regional collaboration and continued humanitarian aid, which it receives from various Christian organizations in the West.
Noting that Nigeria is comprised of Christians and Muslims, the priest called for a society where members of both religions have equal rights and opportunities. He also called for humanitarian aid to support the victims traumatized by terrorism in their country.
The Catholic priest also highlighted various countries, including Chad and Niger. According to Ojapah, Nigeria cannot engage in the "battle" alone, and radical ideologies practiced by groups like Boko Haram must be fought as a region.
"I'm still very hopeful," Ojapah said. "I'm very hopeful that it is possible for Nigeria to grow from her ashes. And I realize that when all of the chips are down in life, all we have is God."
"God uses humanity for good."
As various religious freedom organizations have noted, Nigeria is one of the most dangerous parts of the world to be a practicing Christian. Followers of Christ are subjected to violent persecution not only from radical Islamic groups like Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen but from their Muslim neighbors as well.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
