Family members of kidnapped worshippers bemoaning their fate
Agony. Anguish. Gloom. Doom. These are the intense emotional feelings that currently pervade the air in Kurmin Wali community, Afogo Ward, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State and indeed the entire Southern Kaduna area of the state.
Kurmin Wali community and Kajuru Local Government are in the news again, and as usual, it is for cheerless, horrible reasons.. On January 18, during the Sunday service, scores of gun-wielding bandits literally laid siege to the area, raiding churches and abducting worshippers. At the end of their infamous visit, no fewer than 166 worshippers were forced into the bushes.
The attack, the reporter learnt, occurred about 10 a.m. on Sunday. It was gathered that armed men on motorcycles and on foot invaded Kurmin Wali. They reportedly split into groups to raid three churches. The churches were Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Churches I and II, and the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA).
Days after the incident, fresh details have emerged on the mass abduction of the worshippers, as traumatised survivors recounted the indescribable horror they witnessed on the fateful Sunday.
The village head of Kurmin Wali, Ishiaku Deralazumi, was one of those lucky to have escaped from the kidnappers.
In a chat with Saturday Sun, he described the experience as horrible. He called on Nigerians to come to the rescue of people in the area over the incessant attacks on their community.
According to him, the abduction happened about 9 o’clock last Sunday, January 18, 2026, during the church service, when the well armed kidnappers arrived and surrounded the three churches in the community. “If you wanted to run away, they would point their guns at you, and you would run back to the church. Seeing the danger that has befallen us, women, children, men were crying profusely.
“They assembled all of us from the three churches. We were 177. They started beating the men mercilessly, but they didn’t beat the pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and the children. It was a traumatic experience. We thought our end had come. I sustained severe injuries on my head from their torture.
“They told us that we must first of all produce their 17 motorcycles and then the talk about our freedom will begin.
“However, as God would have it, 11 of us were able to escape from their captivity, remaining 166,” Deralazumi said.
On what the community would do to get back their seized kinsmen now going through unimaginable torture in the hands of these terrorists from hell, the village head said he was very confused. He noted that the state governor, Uba Sani had visited the community and promised to work with security agencies to free those in the captivity of the kidnappers.
He appealed to Nigerians to come to their rescue before the terrorists kill the entire people in the traumatised community all of them.
According to him, the kidnappers come to their community, and abduct people, “and the government doesn’t want us to tell anybody; that is why we are calling on Nigerians to help us be we all die.”
Abel Sambo is one of those lucky to have escaped from the hands of the bandits. But his daughter was not so fortunate.
He said it was after he had escaped that he realised that his daughter had fallen into the hands of the kidnappers.
His words: “We were in the church when suddenly we heard gunshots. People started running and the kidnappers were chasing those that were running. They covered their faces with masks,” Sambo said.
“As they approached our ECWA church, I escaped because I was close to the door and ran towards the eastern part of the village. Later, I heard people crying as the kidnappers were forcing them into the bush. It was after I escaped that I discovered my daughter was missing. Now she is with the kidnappers.”
Another worshipper who also escaped from the bandits, Amos Markus, described the operation as coordinated and ruthless, adding that the kidnappers were all masked.
“The kidnappers all wore masks, so no one could identify them. They scattered the church, collected our phones and money, and moved us to another nearby church. The people from that church were already lying on the ground. Later, they wanted to take us into the bush. How I escaped, I cannot explain, it is God’s doing,” he said.
According to community sources, 177 people were initially seized. Eleven, however, managed to escape, leaving 166 worshippers abducted and taken into captivity at gunpoint.
The breakdown shows that 50 were taken from Cherubim and Seraphim I, 92 from Cherubim and Seraphim II, and 24 from ECWA.
Community leaders said desperate efforts were made to alert security agencies, traditional rulers and government officials immediately after the incident. But they regretted that no swift rescue operation followed.
President of the Adara Development Association (ADA), Chief Sebastine A. Barde, lamented what he described as a recurring pattern of violence, abandonment and official denial.
“Our people continue to suffer systematic brutality, dehumanisation, dispossession and displacement on our God-given ancestral lands,” Barde said, describing the attack as part of a relentless cycle of terror that has devastated livelihoods, education, mental health and communal life.
The Adara community leader also accused the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Rabiu, and the Chairman of Kajuru Local Government, Dauda Madaki, of downplaying the incident after visiting the community on Monday, 19 January 2026.
According to the community, both officials allegedly dismissed reports of the abduction as rumours, a position that has since sparked outrage and bitterness among residents and rights groups.
Youth leader, Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Kaduna State Chapter, Isaac Tanko, accused the Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, of censoring information on the incessant killings and kidnappings going on in the Southern Kaduna.
Tanko, who is also the National Secretary of Middle Belt Generation Next, said that the state government has threatened community leaders that their towns and villages would not be included in its development agenda if they ever report or cause to publish any case of kidnap or attack in their communities.
Tanko spoke to Saturday Sun after his visit to Kurmin Wali following the abduction of 166 worshippers from three churches in the community on Sunday.
He said it was a simultaneous attack on three churches within one community on Sunday. He said among the 166 persons they took into the bush were pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, children and old people.
“However, 11 people were able to escape and returned to the community with different degrees of injuries. I spent about two hours in the community on Tuesday to get authentic information and not to rely on social media in the face of police denial, and the denial of the Kaduna State governor, which has been his pattern of administration. He has been censoring the media and concealing information about kidnapping and killings in Southern Kaduna.
“Prior to the Sunday abduction, on the 11th of January, 2026, terrorists stormed Kurmin Wali, and kidnapped 20 people and demanded N2.6 million ransom. The villagers contributed money and paid. Exactly a week later, they returned and kidnapped 177.
“But, this information of the kidnap of 20 people was never in the public domain because the state government has been threatening people in the communities, telling them that once they exposed what is going on, the government will not execute any developmental project in their communities. Because of this, the kidnappings going on there are not reported.
“The government told the communities that once they keep quiet when they are kidnapped, that they will try and rescue the people, and then they’ll be sure that development will reach their side.
“As I’m talking to you, I have the videos; there is no functional primary school in that community. None of the estimated 200 pupils in that community is attending primary school,” Tanko stressed.
Chairman of the Northern Christian Elders Forum, Elder Sunday Oibe, described the abduction of the 166 worshippers as “a rude shock.”
“We believed peace had finally returned to Kaduna. The earlier denial by the Commissioner of Police and the Local Government Chairman was most unfortunate,” Oibe said, while urging Governor Uba Sani not to relent until all abducted persons are safely rescued.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSW-N) also condemned the abduction, saying its team was denied access to Kurmin Wali by security operatives despite proper identification.
The organisation confirmed, through multiple community sources, that 166 people remain in captivity, noting that elderly women and young children were later released.
CSW-N warned that repeated abductions in Kajuru have impoverished communities, forced families into debt through ransom payments and triggered mass displacement.
Amnesty International similarly condemned the attack and the initial denial by the authorities. It described the abduction of 166 worshippers – including minors and pregnant women – as evidence of the Nigerian government’s failure to end rampant impunity.
However, in a statement, the Nigeria Police Force said subsequent verification confirmed that the incident occurred and that coordinated security operations had been launched to rescue the victims.
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has also ordered the deployment of tactical and intelligence assets to Kajuru and surrounding areas.
As anguish grips Kurmin Wali, families of the abducted said they are left clinging to hope, prayers and the promise of rescue, while demanding truth, accountability and urgent action from those entrusted with their security.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up with additional vigilance groups from the neighbourhood and military reinforcement in the community.
Credit: The Sun
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