YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon –Father Wilfred Ezemba of St. Paul’s Parish in Kogi state in the north central Nigeria became the latest victim of a virtual epidemic of kidnappings of Christian clergy and other leaders, which at least one expert believes is part of an attempted anti-Christian “genocide” in Africa’s most populous nation.

Ezemba was taken Sept. 13 by unidentified gunmen while travelling along a local road with a group of other commuters.

Security agencies and volunteer groups, including local police, the Nigerian military and the Kogi East Neighborhood Watch, are all reportedly searching local forests for any trace of Ezemba, so far without results.

Ezemba’s abduction marked the second kidnapping in the area in a week, and it came just two weeks after the pastor and a layman of the Christian Evangelical Fellowship of Nigeria had also been kidnapped.

A fellow Catholic priest in the same community, who identified himself as Fr. Michael, told local media he was confident Ezemba eventually will be freed.

“We are confused because since his abduction, his abductors have not made any contact to demand a ransom,” he said on Sept. 15. “But we are, however, confident that Almighty God will deliver him safely from the grip of the kidnappers.

“We believe strongly in the efficacy of our prayers, he will eventually regain his freedom.”

Across Nigeria, kidnappings for ransom have become what Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Diocese calls “a complex criminal industry.”

While the crime can affect anyone, clergy and religious have been disproportionately targeted. According to official statistics from the Catholic bishops’ conference of Nigeria, over 145 Catholic priests have been kidnapped in Nigeria since 2015, and some have been killed.

Other observers, however, consider those tallies incomplete.

“The [church] statistics are very conservative, because I’m aware of more than 250 Catholic clergy who have been attacked in the past 10 years,” said Emeka Umeagbalasi, a leading Nigerian criminologist and director of the Catholic-inspired NGO Intersociety.

“I’m also aware that more than 350 clergy belonging to other Christian denominations have also been attacked,” he said.

Nigeria’s flourishing kidnapping industry generates billions in economic value, according to the Africa-focused market/security intelligence gathering and strategic consulting firm SBM Intelligence.

An August 2024 report by SBM Intelligence titled “Economics of Nigeria’s Kidnap Industry” indicates that between July 2023 and June 2024, no fewer than 7,568 people were abducted in 1,130 incidents across the country. In that same period, kidnappers demanded roughly $6.9 million in ransom, but received just under $700,000, meaning approximately 9.5 percent of the money demanded.

Still, in a country where the average annual income, according to the IMF, is roughly $835, $700,000 is a windfall. According to the report, at least 4,722 people were abducted and $170,000 paid in ransom between July 2024 and June 2025.

“Kidnapping has become a highly organized and pervasive criminal industry, rather than an isolated security problem,” SBM concluded.

While in general these kidnappings are carried out for purposes of collecting a ransom, and when paid the abductees are released, the SBM reported nevertheless found that slightly over 1,000 people have been killed during abductions.

During the period covered by the report, the group found that 18 Catholic priests had been seized. The kidnappers demanded roughly $130,000 in ransom, but were paid only about $1400.

Father Moses Aondover Iorapuu, Vicar General of the Makurdi diocese in central Nigeria, told Crux that kidnappings and other related criminal acts “are a manifestation of a dysfunctional society.”

“Nigeria has become a dangerous place for Christians and priests, especially for their standards as followers of Christ,” he said. “The absence of the rule of law makes many criminal industries thrive, not just kidnappings but the institutions that fail to hold the criminals accountable.”

At a certain point, Iorapuu said, all this becomes a form of religious persecution.

“The deliberate targeting of a particular group of people does not make it mere kidnappings anymore,” he said.

Umeagbalasi believes the spike in kidnappings of Christian clergy and other leaders is part of what he calls a “genocide” directed against Christians in Nigeria.

Most of the kidnappings, he says, are carried out by Jihadists who have made it an objective to annihilate Christianity from Nigeria. He asserts that the kidnappings are designed to generate funding to carry out the broader objective of Christian persecution in the continent’s most populous country – ironically, forcing Christians to pay for their own victimization.

In its latest report, Intersociety says that at least 7,087 Christians have been massacred across Nigeria in the first 220 days of 2025 — an average of 32 Christians killed per day. The report further indicates that 7,899 others were abducted.

Umeagbalasi said the targeting of clergy for kidnapping is especially appalling.

“Those people, the members of the clergy, are not supposed to be touched because they did no wrong,” he said.

“They have committed no offence. They are not antagonists. They are not offensive. They are not insulting.  They are quiet. They are godly. They are focused.  They are disciples of evangelism. They are also disciples of Christ. They are Christ-like persons on earth. They represent the life and time of Jesus Christ on earth,” Umeagbalasi said.

“They are not supposed to be touched. They are not supposed to be attacked.  They are not supposed to be abducted. They are not supposed to be killed. They are not supposed to disappear, because they have done nothing wrong to warrant such savagery.”