Prayers continue for release of abducted Nigerian priest who recently served in Alaska

(OSV News) -- Faithful on two continents are praying for the safe return of a Nigerian priest who once served in Alaska, and has been kidnapped in his home country.

Father Alphonsus Afina, assigned to several parishes across Alaska from September 2017 through 2024, was abducted June 1 along with an unspecified number of fellow travelers while in Nigeria's Borno state, near the northeastern town of Gwoza.

Bishop John Bogma Bakeni of Maiduguri, Nigeria, told The Associated Press June 8 that the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram was responsible for the kidnapping.

The bishop said he had spoken briefly with Father Afina the day after the abduction and described him as "sounding OK" and "in good spirits" despite exhaustion.

OSV News has contacted the Diocese of Maiduguri, where Father Afina was ordained in 2010, for an update and is awaiting a response.

According to Bishop Bakeni, the priest had been traveling from the city of Mubi, his current pastoral assignment, to Maiduguri for a workshop. At a military checkpoint, his convoy was ambushed by armed men, with a rocket-propelled grenade striking one of the vehicles, killing one and wounding others.

The bishop said it was not clear if Father Afina was the intended target of the attack.

However, a recent report from Fides Agency -- the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies -- found that since 2015, 145 priests were abducted in Nigeria, with 11 killed and four still missing as of March.

Father Sylvester Okechukwu of the Diocese of Kafanchan was murdered March 5, a day after he had been seized. Days earlier, Diocese of Auchi seminarian Andrew Peter was killed by gunmen who also abducted Father Philip Ekweli. The priest spent 10 days in captivity prior to his March 13 release.

In Alaska, Bishop Steven J. Maekawa of Fairbanks called for prayer, following a June 3 Mass celebrated for Father Afina at Sacred Heart Cathedral, which drew some 200 in-person as well as online participants.

Writing in a June 5 letter to the faithful, Bishop Maekawa reiterated his homily from that liturgy, referencing the Gospel account of the paralyzed man brought by friends through the roof of a house to obtain healing from Christ (Mk 2:1-12).

"We are a powerful people," said the bishop. "Much like the men who make a hole in the roof to lower their friend through it to bring him to Jesus, we are able to bring those in need to our Lord Jesus with our prayers. Without the Lord we can do nothing. Great things can be accomplished by appealing to the love of God."

Bishop Maekawa said Father Afina and all held captive "need as many people as possible praying for them and for their captors."

He asked the faithful to remember them in the general intercessions at Sunday Mass, while also requesting each community to offer a eucharistic holy hour and undertake "additional acts of penance for the strength and safety of our brother."

"Let us call upon the Spirit of God to strengthen, protect and deliver Fr. Alphonsus and all who are in captivity," wrote Bishop Maekawa.

Also on June 5, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, posted on social media that she was praying for the priest, saying he had "served communities across rural Alaska, and returned to Nigeria to establish a trauma center for victims of Boko Haram.

"No one should be violated or persecuted for their faith, and I join the Fairbanks diocese in praying for his safe return," said Murkowski.

Father Robert Fath, vicar general of the Diocese of Fairbanks, described Father Afina to local media as "a man of great prayer, a man of great faith" and a "very gregarious and happy individual."

"He ... always had a smile on his face and was always laughing, regaling us with stories from back in Nigeria," said Father Fath.

Kidnapping by various armed groups in Nigeria, particularly in the nation's north, has been an endemic problem for a number of years.

In December, Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics released a report showing more than 2 million had been abducted between May 2023 and April 2024 alone, with 600,000 Nigerians killed and Nigerians paying some $1.42 billion in ransom -- an average of $1,700 per incident -- during that period.

Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist group, has spearheaded such attacks in recent years, brazenly capturing 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014 -- an ambush that prompted international outrage, but little sustained effort to secure the girls' safe return. As of 2024, 82 remained in captivity, with the others released or escaping on their own. More than 1,400 children have been abducted since the Chibok attack, according to a 2024 report by Amnesty International.