{"id":154359,"date":"2025-03-08T09:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T08:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna"},"modified":"2025-03-19T10:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T09:26:01","slug":"christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna","title":{"rendered":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan was recently kidnapped and murdered.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to the development in a statement issued by its Chairman, Apostle Dr. Emmanuel Nuhu Kure, the association said the act is not only a painful loss to the Church but also a disturbing indication of the worsening insecurity in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The association called on the Federal Government and security agencies to check the menace before it goes out of hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of SKCLA, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, especially to the Lord Bishop, Most Rev. Julius Yakubu Kundi, the clergy, and the entire Catholic faithful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe stand with you in this moment of grief and pray that God grants you the strength and comfort to bear this tragic loss,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>They noted that the incident is part of a troubling pattern of attacks on clergymen in Southern Kaduna.<\/p>\n<p>The Christian leaders added, \u2018We painfully recall the abduction and brutal killing of Rev. Fr. John Mark Cheitnum in 2022, the assassination of Pastor Musa Mairiga of ECWA Church, and the numerous cases of kidnappings and killings of Christian leaders across our communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese repeated assaults on men of God raise serious concerns: Is this a deliberate and systematic attack on Christians, particularly priests and pastors?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope that both Federal and State security apparatus will do something drastic to check this before it begins to carry a religious undertone that might undermine the hard earned peace in the state. They may be criminal but why is the church clerics the only target?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen in the area. Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan was recently kidnapped and murdered. Reacting to the development in a statement issued by its Chairman, Apostle Dr. Emmanuel Nuhu Kure, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":154358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[3128,254,4776],"class_list":["post-154359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-christian","tag-nigeria","tag-southern-kaduna"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-08T08:54:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T09:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"431\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-08T08:54:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-19T09:26:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\"},\"wordCount\":309,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"christian\",\"Nigeria\",\"Southern Kaduna\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\",\"name\":\"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-08T08:54:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-19T09:26:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":431,\"caption\":\"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna - Nigeria","description":"The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna","og_description":"The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-03-08T08:54:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-19T09:26:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":431,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna","datePublished":"2025-03-08T08:54:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-19T09:26:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna"},"wordCount":309,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg","keywords":["christian","Nigeria","Southern Kaduna"],"articleSection":["all news","Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna","name":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-08T08:54:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-19T09:26:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association (SKCLA) has raised the alarm over the incessant killings of clergymen ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741417139.367983.jpg","width":800,"height":431,"caption":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/christian-leaders-cry-out-over-killing-of-clergymen-in-southern-kaduna#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christian leaders cry out over killing of clergymen in Southern Kaduna"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}