CSI calls for urgent action after partner abducted in Nigeria

Father Daniel Alphonsus Afina kidnapped while serving Christian communities in dangerous northeastern region

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, July 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is calling on the Nigerian government to take urgent action to secure the release of a Catholic priest, Daniel Alphonsus Afina, who has been abducted by Boko Haram. Afina, aged 41, serves as a trusted CSI partner in northeastern Nigeria.

“CSI local partners in Nigeria work tirelessly to provide humanitarian aid and pastoral care amid the ongoing plague of jihadist violence,” said Joel Veldkamp, CSI’s director for public advocacy. “These brave individuals, who include priests, aid workers, and community leaders, serve vulnerable Christians despite facing constant threats from Islamist militants. Their vital work includes distributing food relief, and providing spiritual guidance to traumatized communities.”

The dangerous reality of their work became tragically apparent on June 1, 2025, when CSI local partner Reverend Father Afina was abducted by Islamic terrorists while traveling from Mubi to Maiduguri.

Afina's convoy was ambushed at a military checkpoint between Liman Kara and Gwoza town, near Takaskala village, an area where Boko Haram and affiliated Islamist militias maintain a stranglehold. This region has become synonymous with persecution, where Christians often face a brutal choice: convert to Islam, flee their ancestral homes, or face death.

The attack claimed multiple lives, including Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) staff member Zion Japhet, another CSI partner. Father Afina and several others were taken captive by the terrorists, who forced the priest to make a brief phone call to the auxiliary bishop. In that call, Father Afina confirmed his capture and requested prayers. Nothing has been heard from him since.

Just months before his abduction, in December 2024, Father Afina had personally led CSI's food relief project for Christian widows in the Diocese of Maiduguri, a region which has borne the brunt of Boko Haram's decade-long campaign of terror against Christians.

Father Afina's abduction is far from an isolated incident. So far in 2025, 15 religious leaders have been kidnapped in Nigeria. Some are held for ransom while others face execution.

The systematic nature of these attacks has raised questions about the organization, financing, and apparent impunity enjoyed by Fulani Islamist militias and Boko Haram terrorists. Videos of executions, including the shocking beheading of Reverend Lawan Andimi, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa State in January 2020, have horrified the international community – but so far done little to force them into action.

Yet despite evidence and over a decade of documented violence, Nigerian authorities continue to downplay or even deny the systematic persecution of Christians, allowing these attacks to continue with little to no consequence for the perpetrators.

"Father Daniel Alphonsus Afina represents the very best of Christian service, a man who left the relative safety of Alaska, where he lived in 2017-2024, to serve his community in one of the world's most dangerous regions," said John Eibner, president of Christian Solidarity International.

"His abduction is not just an attack on one individual, but an assault on all those who dare to stand with persecuted Christians. We call upon the Nigerian government to take immediate action to secure his release."

Joel Veldkamp
Christian Solidarity International
+41449823310 ext.
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