Seventeen Nigerian Christians Die in Captivity
An April raid in Kaduna seized 37 people; most later died in captivity from hunger and abuse, and four abducted in a separate April attack remain held.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria said that 17 of 37 Christians abducted in an April 5, 2026, attack on churches in the Ariko community, Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, died in captivity. The group said the deaths were caused by hunger, trauma, and abuse at the hands of their captors.
Gunmen struck First ECWA Church, St. Augustine Catholic Church, and another congregation that day, killing five people during the raid and seizing mostly women and children. Of those taken, 12 later escaped. Eight were released after five months in captivity. The remaining survivors’ fate has underscored the human cost of repeated assaults on Christian communities in northern Nigeria.
Ongoing Captives and Wider Pattern
Separately, four people abducted on April 20, 2026, from Awon village remain in captivity after more than six months. Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria stressed that in some northern communities about 99 percent of victims of such violence are Christians. The organization called for the release of all remaining captives, including Leah Sharibu, who has been held since earlier attacks.
The April assaults form part of a wider pattern of killings, sexual violence, forced displacement, and disruption of worship and farming that has marked 2026 in parts of Kaduna and neighboring states. Islamist and Fulani militant groups have repeatedly targeted churches, villages, and farming families, leaving parishes without faithful and fields untilled.
Catholic and other Christian communities in the region continue to gather for Mass and prayer under threat, while bishops and local pastors have repeatedly urged security forces to protect worshippers and secure the release of those still held. The deaths of the 17 captives add to a toll that has hollowed out families and emptied pews in affected dioceses and denominations.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria’s account places the Ariko raid and the Awon abductions within that continuing crisis, insisting that those still alive in the bush must be freed and that the violence against Christian villages and churches cannot be treated as routine banditry. For the Church in Nigeria, each name lost in captivity is both a pastoral wound and a call to prayer, solidarity, and persistent public witness for the persecuted.