Armed bandits kill one of three monks kidnapped from monastery in Kwara, throw his body into river

One of the monks who were kidnapped from the Benedictine monastery in Eruku, Kwara State by armed bandits has been killed.

It was gathered that the gunmen stormed the monastery on the night of October 17, 2023, and kidnapped Brother Godwin Eze, a novice monk, and two postulants, Anthony Mary Eze (pictured) and Peter Olarewanju.

In a statement with a Catholic news publication, ACI Africa, on Tuesday, October 24, the administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Ilorin, Fr. Anselm Pendo Lawani, confirmed that Brother Godwin Eze had been brutally murdered and his body thrown into a river.

Earlier, the diocese had announced the release of Anthony Eze and Olarewaju and appealed for prayers for Godwin Eze, a novice at the monastery.

“This is to thank all and sundry for your collective prayers over the past several days for the safe release of our brothers, Brother Anthony Eze and Brother Peter Olarewaju. We thank God for answering our prayers,” Fr. Lawani stated.

“However, we are saddened by the news of the gruesome murder of the third brother, Godwin Eze, in the hands of the kidnappers. May God grant eternal rest to his soul, consolation to his immediate family members and to all of us who are left to mourn his passing,”

In an interview with ACI Africa, Father Joseph Ekesioba, a former novice director at the monastery, said that Brother Godwin Eze was shot by Fulani bandits a day after the kidnapping.

“I have been sharing with one of our brothers who was released and he said that Godwin was shot on Wednesday [Oct. 18] at night. The abductors took our three brothers to the bank of a river and shot Brother Godwin. They then threw his lifeless body into the river,” Ekesioba said.

He added: “After killing Godwin, the kidnappers led brothers Peter and Anthony to the forest where they had been hiding them and continued to threaten them, telling them that they too would be killed. Luckily, the two were set free on Saturday evening, October 21,”

Ekesioba said that the monastery was organizing a search to retrieve the body of Godwin Eze from the river.

He told ACI Africa that the monastery had been forced to implement drastic measures following the October 17 kidnapping.

“We have had to relocate our brothers to a safer place since we continue to receive threats of attacks,” he added.