(LifeSiteNews) — A security officer employed by Jason Jones’ Vulnerable People Project (VPP) has been killed in Africa while guarding seminarians, three of whom were abducted after the officer was murdered.

Christopher Aweneghieme, a member of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corp who was tasked by the VPP with guarding Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhianokpodi, Edo State, Nigeria, was murdered by gunmen on Thursday night. 

According to a press release shared with LifeSiteNews, three seminarians were captured and “led into the bush,” while the other seminarians were “temporarily relocated to a safe area until security measures around the Seminary are tightened.”

In some kidnapping cases in Nigeria, captives are returned when a ransom is paid, while others never return. The Catholic Diocese of Auchi has requested prayers for the repose of the soul of Aweneghieme and for the “speedy release of the abducted seminarians unharmed.”

The murder and kidnappings are the latest of the ongoing violence that plagues Nigeria at the hands of Islamist militants, including Fulani fighters, Boko Haram, and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province), according to Open Doors International.

A report released in the spring of 2023 found that over 50,000 Christians had been killed in Nigeria since 2009 and accounted for about 1,000 Christians killed that year. The number quickly mounted, with a 2024 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law having found that more than 8,000 Nigerian Christians were killed and thousands more were abducted in 2023, including dozens of priests, making it the bloodiest year on record for Islamic attacks against Christians in the country.

In fact, a 2025 Global Christian Relief (GCR) Red List report has found that Nigeria is the most dangerous place for Christians in the world. The report detailed how most of the killings in Nigeria occur in northern “sharia” states, where Christians “often live in remote villages in semi-arid landscapes, making them particularly vulnerable to attacks.” 

Notably, the same report highlighted the failure of the Nigerian government in stopping these anti-Christian attacks, stating that “despite government assurances that they will defeat the extremists, the violence continues to escalate.”

It is because of this acute vulnerability to violence that the VPP has stepped in to help provide security and meet the other needs of Nigerian Catholic churches and communities in particular.

In 2022, Bishop Lucius Ugorji, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, lamented the ongoing violence and insecurity in his country and challenged the inaction of the government.

“Nigeria is bleeding. Our land is soaked in blood, from north to south, east to west. Blood is flowing like a river,” Ugorji declared.

“Nigerians now live in fear and anxiety, as a dark cloud of uncertainty hangs over the nation. Nowhere is secure – our homes, our highways, our institutions of learning, and even our sacred precincts of worship centers are all unsafe,” he continued.

“Why has our country become so insecure while we have a government charged with the responsibility of defending the lives and property of one and all? Why has life become so cheap and short in Nigeria? Why must people who slaughter unarmed and law-abiding citizens in our communities be allowed to go scot-free?”

Readers can donate to help the VPP provide or amp up security for a Christian parish, church, school, or hospital in Nigeria.