{"id":80967,"date":"2025-12-30T08:50:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T08:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=80967"},"modified":"2025-12-30T08:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T08:50:19","slug":"attack-on-priests-in-nasarawa-ksji-calls-for-investigation-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/12\/30\/attack-on-priests-in-nasarawa-ksji-calls-for-investigation-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack on Priests in Nasarawa: KSJI Calls for Investigation, Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Samson Adeyanju\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Abuja Grand Commandery of the Noble Order of the Knights of St. John International (KSJI), has called for a thorough investigation and swift justice following the brutal attack on two Catholic priests in Mararaba, Nasarawa State.<\/p>\n

The attack occurred in the early hours of Saturday, December 20, 2025, when armed assailants stormed the parish house of St. Rita Catholic Church, Unity Estate, Mararaba, at about 2:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

During the invasion, two priests, Rev. Fr. Comas Baye and Rev. Fr. Chris Pever were stabbed and left critically injured, while the parish priest narrowly escaped unhurt.<\/p>\n

Fr. Baye, a priest in residence and a cadet of KSJI, was reportedly battling partial stroke before the incident, while Fr. Pever, a visiting priest and former assistant priest of the parish, sustained severe injuries, including a fracture to his left arm.<\/p>\n

The injured priests were rushed to Nativity Catholic Hospital, Jikwoyi, where they received emergency medical care. Fr. Pever underwent surgery for a surgical implant, and both priests are currently said to be in stable condition and responding to treatment.<\/p>\n

In a statement, KSJI described the attack as a grave assault on innocent clergy, religious institutions, and the sanctity of human life.<\/p>\n

The Order expressed deep concern over the growing insecurity and the increasing targeting of places of worship and religious leaders in the Federal Capital Territory and neighbouring states.<\/p>\n

KSJI urged security agencies to urgently investigate the incident, apprehend the perpetrators, and ensure they are prosecuted without delay.<\/p>\n

The group also called on government at all levels to strengthen security around religious institutions and communities to prevent further attacks.<\/p>\n

The Order pledged solidarity with the Catholic Diocese of Lafia, the clergy, and parishioners of St. Rita Catholic Church, while offering prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured priests and for lasting peace and security in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Samson Adeyanju\u00a0 The Abuja Grand Commandery of the Noble Order of the Knights of St. John International (KSJI), has called for a thorough investigation and swift justice following the brutal attack on two Catholic priests in Mararaba, Nasarawa State. The attack occurred in the early hours of Saturday, December 20, 2025, when armed assailants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":80968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80969,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80967\/revisions\/80969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}