CSW is calling for urgent intervention by Nigeria’s state and federal authorities to secure the release of villagers abducted for ransom in April from the Kachia Local Government Area (LGA) of southern Kaduna State. At least eight of those abducted have reportedly died due to the deliberate harshness of their captivity.
At least seven people were killed and 37 worshippers were kidnapped in coordinated attacks by heavily armed militia of Fulani ethnicity on the Easter Sunday services of First ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) Church and St. Augustine Catholic Church in the Ariko community of Kachia LGA on 5 April.
Eleven people who were abducted on 20 April from Awon village, also in Kachia LGA, were moved to the same forest camp as the Ariko victims, where they reportedly sleep in the open air, with no protection from the elements, causing the children to fall sick. Their abductors reportedly demanded 300 million Naira (approximately 165,000 GBP) and 23 motorcycles for their release, rejecting the rural community’s offer of several million naira and threatening that their victims would have no access to food until the monies were forthcoming.
In late June it was reported that a young girl abducted from Awon alongside her mother had died from ‘extreme hunger’. More recently, a released abductee revealed that two men, two women, and three children had died, and that their bodies were dragged to a slope and thrown over it. Among them was a baby born in captivity who had survived for a little over two weeks.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘Abductees from Ariko and Awon villages are slowly dying due to the inhumane conditions in which they are being held. It is deeply perplexing that their captors expect poor rural farming communities to source such extortionate sums swiftly. We urge both state and federal authorities to make every effort to secure the release of the surviving victims, and to bring all perpetrators to justice.’
Kaduna State remains an epicentre of kidnapping and banditry activity. The predominantly Christian people groups who form a majority in the southern part of the state have endured relentless attacks by Fulani militia since 2011, with a notable uptick during the el Rufai administration (2015-2023), when armed non-state actors made significant inroads amid negligible official interventions, and despite Kaduna being the most garrisoned state in Nigeria.
In the latest violence at least 30 people, including eight children, were killed by militia men who attacked the Naridon community in Kauru LGA at 11pm on 26 July, shooting residents and setting homes and shops on fire. In a comment to Nigerian media confirming the attack the Secretary to the Village Head of Naridon, Dogon Rana, described how one family lost five children in violence that left the sole surviving child critically injured.
Attributing the high number of casualties in part to poor roads which delayed the arrival of security and emergency responders, he lamented the frequency of these attacks and appealed to the Federal and Kaduna State Governments, as well as to security agencies, to strengthen security in the area and provide a functional access road.
Rev Yunusa Nmadu, CEO of CSW Nigeria, said: ‘Unfortunately, this cycle of repeated attacks without arrests or prosecutions is becoming too familiar. We hope this latest attack, which has even taken the lives of little children, will be the last that these traumatised communities will have to bear. We call on the state government to improve approach roads to communities that have suffered repeated attacks, and urge the security personnel to improve their response time to avert relentless fatalities.’