17 Worshippers Kidnapped from Kaduna Churches Die in Captivity, Four Still in Chains

What began as Sunday worship ended in mass graves.

Seventeen Christians abducted during an attack on churches in Ariko, Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, never returned home. They died in the forest, in the hands of their abductors.

Four others are still being held, more than six months after, their condition described as critical.

The heartbreaking disclosure was made on Sunday by the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria, CSWN, at ECWA Goodnews Church, Kaduna, during the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Rev. Dr. Yunusa Nmadu, CEO of CSWN, told worshippers that going to church has become a death trap in parts of Southern Kaduna.

On April 5, 2026, gunmen stormed three churches in Ariko while service was ongoing. They shot five worshippers dead and dragged away 37 others, mostly women and children.

Twelve managed to escape at different times in the bush. Eight came home after five harrowing months. But 17 never made it — they died in captivity, of hunger, trauma and abuse.

In another horror, on April 20, gunmen invaded Awon village, also in Kachia. They abducted 11 people. One escaped. Six were killed in captivity. Four remain in chains till today.

Nmadu also recalled the January 18 nightmare at Kurmin Wali in Kajuru LGA, where 177 worshippers were seized in one swoop during Sunday service across three churches. They spent 18 days with their captors before freedom came.

Behind the numbers are real pains, he said.

Women and children separated from their families, starved, denied water and soap. Nursing mothers and even elderly women repeatedly violated. Some returning home pregnant from rape.

“This is not just insecurity. In some of these communities, 99 percent of victims are Christians,” Nmadu said, listing Kachia, Kajuru, Kauru and Kagarko as hotspots where fear has emptied churches and sacked ancestral homes.

He recalled Leah Sharibu, abducted since February 2018, as a painful reminder that some chains have lasted for years.

“Behind every report and every statistic is a person: a widow, a child, a pastor, a family who has lost a home or a loved one. They are not numbers to us,” he said.

“We are one Church. One Family. If one bleeds, we all pray. Faith under fire still burns.” [With Daily Sun report]