Thirty-eight members of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the Eruku community in Kwara State, central Nigeria, whose abduction on 18 November by Fulani militia was caught on video, were released on 23 November, reportedly following a joint response by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Department of State Security (DSS), the police and the army
Their release came hours after the kidnappers reportedly reduced their ransom demand from N100 million per person to N20 million (approximately GBP 52,000 person to GBP 10,500).
Nigerian civilians continue to bear the brunt of an unprecedented rise in insecurity.
In Niger State, 50 of 303 students who were abducted along with 12 teachers on 21 November in an early morning armed raid on St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in the Papiri community of Agwara Local Government Area (LGA) reportedly managed to escape their captors between 21 and 22 November.
Armed gunmen had attacked the private boarding school between 1am and 3am, shooting and seriously injuring a security guard, and abducting children as young as six. Claims that the school reopened despite a directive for all boarding facilities to close due to heightened security threats were disputed by Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora and Chair of the Niger State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), who said the school had not received any warning.
The bishop added: ‘As it stands, 236 pupils, three children belonging to staff, and 14 secondary students, making a total of 253 children, alongside 12 staff members, are still with the abductors.’
The attack in Niger State marked the second mass abduction of school children within a week. Twenty-five female students from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State who were abducted on 17 November in the first incident remain in captivity. CSW was informed that while the area where the school is located is predominantly Christian, the dormitory the assailants had targeted was occupied by Muslim students.
On 20 November the Archdiocese of Kaduna released a statement denying reports circulating on social media that Rev Fr Bobbo Paschal of Saint Stephen's Parish in Kushe Gugdu, Kagarko LGA, who was abducted from his residence in the early hours of 17 November, had been murdered by his captors, and requested continued prayers for his safe release.
The Nigerian government continues to deny the existence of religious persecution following the nation’s redesignation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by the United States. During the week commencing 17 November a high-level delegation led by the president’s National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu was dispatched to Washington DC to address what it termed ‘dangerous’ narratives regarding religious persecution and possible genocide targeting Christian communities. The visit reportedly resulted in fresh commitments to deepen security cooperation, enhance intelligence support, strengthen joint efforts to protect Nigerian civilians and increase humanitarian assistance for affected communities in the Middle Belt.
On 19 November Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State, a Catholic priest and ruling party member, released a statement rejecting the notion of a genocide against Christians and insisting no jihad was underway in any part of the country. The Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA) of Makurdi Diocese in Benue responded on 21 November with a statement asserting: ‘What our people are experiencing bears every mark of GENOCIDE: a deliberate, calculated, and targeted attempt to eliminate communities and take over their ancestral lands.’
The following day, on 20 November, the social media accounts of Rev Ezekiel Dachomo, Regional Chair of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi LGA, Plateau State, were deleted from Facebook. Rev Dachomo has documented massacres, sexual violence and other violations occurring in Plateau State, has conducted numerous mass burials, and has garnered increasing national and international media attention due to his forthright condemnations of targeted attacks on Christian communities and the insufficient governmental intervention.
Elsewhere, in Borno State unidentified armed men invaded the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) LCB Ba’le-Kanuri Fori, in the capital, Maiduguri, on 17 November at around 10pm, attacking security guard Ishaya Ayuba with a machete and beating him severely. Mr Ayuba is currently hospitalised. The attack reportedly occurred weeks after the Borno State Geographic Information Service (BOGIS) demolished part of the church’s new perimeter fence, rendering the premises vulnerable. According to the church’s assistant leader Rev John Ngubdo, local residents had issued repeated threats ever since the church was established.
CSW's Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘Nigerian civilians are under increasing siege by multiple armed non-state actors. This unprecedented rise in insecurity, along with the attack on the EYN Church in Maiduguri which is emblematic of continuing religious discrimination in Shari’a states, highlight why the United States was right to designate Nigeria a CPC, and the urgent need for the government of Nigeria to respond decisively to both terrorist violence and systematic repression. We call on Nigeria to continue engaging positively with the CPC process, securing all necessary assistance to address religion-related crises and hold sponsors and perpetrators accountable. We also call on international media in particular to take great care to report on the situation in Nigeria in a manner that neither minimises nor sensationalises the religious element of the violence, but reflects the realities on the ground.’