Makuochi OkaforBBC Africa, Lagos
Nigeria’s police have now confirmed that a group of worshippers was kidnapped from three churches in a remote part of the northern Kaduna state, after previously denying it.
More than two days after the raid on the Kurmin Wali area, police on Tuesday night said that an earlier statement denying the attack had been “widely misinterpreted”.
Local residents told the BBC that 177 worshippers had been abducted but that 11 later escaped.
Police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin did not give any numbers but said subsequent checks by operational units and intelligence sources had confirmed the abduction.
He said security forces had been fully deployed to the area, and that search-and-rescue operations and patrols were under way.
He said the earlier statement was “not a denial of the incident but a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected”.
One eyewitness said the attack happened at about 10:00 local time on Sunday.
“Some people tried to run, but they couldn’t because the armed men had surrounded the village,” he said. “They gathered people together and later forced them to march into the bush.”
Residents said the attack affected three churches, Pentecostal Fellowship Assembly (PFA) Church 1, Pentecostal Fellowship Assembly (PFA) Church 2, and the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Church.
On Monday, Kaduna state police commissioner Alhaji Muhammad Rabiu told journalists: “We got a report that 300 people were kidnapped in Kurmin Wali and we sent our officers, soldiers and vigilante and at this time there is no evidence to suggest that a kidnap happened.”
He challenged “anyone to list the names of the kidnapped victims and other particulars.”
The chairman of Kajuru local government area, which includes Kurmin Wali, Dauda Madaki, said security forces were sent to the area but found no evidence of a kidnapping.
”We visited the church where the so-called kidnap took place. There was no evidence of the attack. I asked the village head, Mai Dan Zaria, and he said that there was no such attack.”
Amnesty International has criticised Nigeria’s authorities over what it described as “the desperate denial” of the kidnapping.
The rights group said: “Authorities must also take immediate and concrete measures to prevent rampant abductions that are gradually becoming the norm in Nigeria.”
A list of those kidnapped seen by the BBC on Tuesday contains more than 160 names, though this has not been independently verified.
In November, more than 300 students and teachers were seized from a Catholic school in neighbouring Niger state. They were later released in two successive groups. This was among a spate of kidnappings that made international headlines.
Nigeria is facing numerous security challenges – including kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs, an Islamist insurgency in the north-east, separatist violence in the south-east, and a battle between herders and farmers in the centre over access to land and water.
Experts say corruption, poor intelligence sharing and underfunded local policing have hampered efforts to tackle the various crises.
Nigeria’s defence minister resigned last month at the height of the kidnapping crisis, officially for health reasons, according to the president’s office.
The US has recently become militarily involved in Nigeria – launching airstrikes on Christmas Day on two camps run by an Islamist militant group in north-western Nigeria.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump warned of more strikes if Christians continued to be killed in the West African nation.
There are more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, which is roughly divided into a mainly Muslim north, a largely Christian south, with intermingling in the middle – and the government says people of all faiths have been victims of attacks.
A Nigerian foreign ministry spokesman responded to Trump’s warning by saying that Nigeria would continue to engage constructively with partners such as the US.
”Nigeria remains committed to protecting all citizens, Christians and Muslims alike, without discrimination,” Alkasim Abdulkadir said.
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