(Reuters) – Gunmen burned a Catholic priest to death and shot and wounded a colleague of his in northwest Nigeria on Sunday, police said, in the latest wave of violence and worrying over the security of elections next month. .
Nigerians will elect a new president on Feb. 25, but kidnappings for ransom and killings by armed gangs in the north of the country have raised fears that elections may not go ahead in some areas.
The motive for the latest attack was unclear, but gunmen had previously targeted priests in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north.
Wasiu Abiodun, a police spokesman in Niger state, said in a statement that gunmen had set fire to the residence of Father Isaac Achi of the Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in a local government area of Paikoro after failing to come in around 3am.
Achi was burned to death while another priest identified as Father Collins, who was in the house, was shot and wounded as he tried to escape.
He is recovering at a local hospital, Abiodun said.
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