An auxiliary Bishop in Nigeria and his driver were released by their abductors Jan. 1 after being kidnapped five days earlier.

Bishop Moses Chikwe of Owerri was “looking and feeling very weak from the traumatic experience”, according to Archbishop John Obinna.

He said the bishop’s driver had been taken to the hospital for treatment of a deep cut to his hand, received from the kidnappers.

Chikwe’s kidnapping came less than two weeks after the kidnapping and release in Imo state of Father Valentine Oluchukwu Ezeagu, a member of the Sons of Mary Mother of Mercy Congregation. The priest was stopped and taken by armed men Dec. 15 as he was driving to his father’s funeral in Anambra state, north of Imo. He was released unharmed the next day.

Chikwe remains the first Catholic bishop to be kidnapped in Nigeria since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009. Over the years, several priests and hundreds of others have been kidnapped. These included cases involving groups of school students.