From Victor Nwegede
It was a galore of jubilation on Sunday as the adorers of Nso-na-Agha Adoration Centre, Ugwuachara in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State joined a Catholic Priest, Rev Fr Job-Francis Nwobegu in his Holy Mass and Church Thanksgiving Service in the adoration ground following his freedom from his abductors after 37days in their hostage in Cameroon.
Our Correspondent learnt that Fr Nwobegu was among five (5) Catholic Priests, a consecrated sister and two girls abducted in Cameroon West, the city of Bamenda, Anglophone Capital of Northwestern Cameroon on Friday 16th September 2022 by unknown assailants after setting fire to a Church the same day.
The Mamfe Diocese located in South West region is one of the two restive regions in Cameroon where separatists have been waging war on the federal authorities since 2017.
It is with "shock and utter horror" that the Bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Bamenda in Western Cameroon announced the kidnapping of " five priests, a nun and two lay faithful.
"On the evening of 16th September 2022," a statement received by True Vision on Sunday stated, the Christians were abducted and St Mary's Church in Nanchang (South West region) was burned down.
Archbishop Andrew Nkea, who signed the statement, did not give details of the attack.
The Archbishop did not attribute it to anyone in particular and said that the kidnappers had given "no concrete reason" for the act.
Murders, ransackings and kidnappings have become frequent in this region, where armed separatist groups regularly target schools and teachers in particular, but also Catholic and Protestant churches and their prelates.
But the bishops of the region said that Friday's kidnapping is "completely unprecedented" in its ranking.
Past kidnappings like the one of the late Cardinal Christian Tumi are frequently carried out by separatist groups and can end with the release of the hostages for ransom or after negotiations with local traditional and religious leaders.
More recently, it is a Senator, Regina Mundi who was abducted for almost 2 months.
The North West and South West regions, populated mainly by Cameroon's English-speaking minority, have been the scene of a deadly conflict for nearly six years between armed groups demanding independence and security forces deployed on a massive scale by the government of President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.
Both sides are regularly accused by international NGOs and the UN of committing crimes and atrocities against civilians, the main victims of this war.
The conflict has left more than 6,000 people dead since the end of 2016 and forced more than a million people to move, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
However, in a Church Thanksgiving, Fr Job-Francis Nwobegu implored the members of the Nso-no-Agha Adoration Centre, Ugwuachara to join him to thank God for His intervention which led to his freedom alongside those abducted with him by the assailants without any record of a dead victim.
Nwobegu said: "I don't know where to start by giving my testimony. Let me start with what happened today before I will begin to tell the past.
"Scripture says those who trust in the Lord are like mighty Zion, and the sermon today, told us not to be afraid and don't lose hope in God.
"First, today's reading is like a divine plan. The first reading, second reading and the gospel itself were directly talking to myself.
"I was thinking about the day of my testimony and Thanksgiving for this hard experience, whether on Monday or Sunday....
Fr Nwobegu explained that he and co-victims of the abduction were devoted to prayers despite their tough experience because, in the long run, it seemed God's intervention was not coming forth.
Yet, Nwobegu and his co-victims of the abduction were released when God intervened without paying the ransom.
The founder of the Nso-na-Agha Adoration Centre, Rev Fr Kenneth Nome, his members, and the family of Job-Francis Nwobegu jointly praised God for his divine intervention during the Thanksgiving ceremony.
