A Catholic priest was burnt to death and another sustained gunshot wounds in a terrorist attack in Paikoro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger state, central Nigeria on 15 January, while 25 churchgoers were abducted in Katsina state in the northwest on the same day.
Rev Father Isaac Achi, the parish priest of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in the Kafin Koro community and chair of the local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), was burned beyond recognition and the rectory was gutted when terrorists set it ablaze after failing to gain entry forcibly. His colleague Rev Fr Collins Omeh managed to escape from the burning building, but sustained gunshot wounds and is being treated in a hospital.
In 2011 Rev Fr Isaac Achi survived the Christmas Day bombing at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger state, where he was serving as parish priest. The Madalla bomber Kabiru Sokoto, who was later arrested in the Borno state governor’s lodge in Abuja, was among 69 Boko Haram fighters who escaped when terrorists attacked Kuje Prison in Abuja in July 2022.
Since 2021 both the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram factions have overrun successive Niger State communities. On 30 May 2021 136 pupils were abducted from the Tanko Salihu Islamic school in Tegina in Rafi LGA, and were released 88 days later. In October 2022 over 200 armed assailants stormed Gulu General Hospital in Lapai Gulu, killing two health personnel and kidnapping 20 people. In November 2022 ISWAP fighters attempted to break into the Wawa military cantonment in the remote village of New Bussa in Borgu LGA. Also in November 2022 police confirmed a series of terrorist attacks had been launched on six communities over six days, including Kafin Koro.
On the evening of 14 January 2023 in the southern state of Ekiti, the parish priest of St. George Omu-Ekiti Catholic Church in Oye LGA, Rev Fr Michael Olubunmi Olofinlade, was abducted as he returned from a pastoral assignment outside of his parish.
In Katsina state, terrorists on motorcycles attacked the Global Mission Church, previously known as New Life For All Church, in Gidan Haruna Dan Mai Tsauni Gurbi ward of Kankara LGA, during the morning service on 15 January, reportedly abducting 25 worshippers, and severely assaulting and injuring the church pastor when he attempted to intervene.
Attacks on Christian communities in Katsina state are occurring against the backdrop of increasing armed assaults on and abductions of the more numerous Hausa Muslim community by Fulani militia. In December 2022 at least 13 people were seized in an attack on a mosque in Maigamji village in Funtua LGA in which the imam and other worshippers were shot and injured.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘We extend our deepest condolences to those close to Rev Father Achi, and wish his colleague Rev Fr Omeh a full and swift recovery. Unfortunately, Nigerian authorities past and present repeatedly failed vulnerable communities in the country’s central states, allowing this violence to metastasise and take root across the nation. We urge both state and federal authorities to re-strategise in order to address the threat posed by terrorist groups decisively before it renders the nation ungovernable. We also call for swift interventions to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Rev Fr Olofinlade, the 25 worshippers from the Global Mission Church, and every other Nigerian citizen who is currently held captive by ruthless non state actors.’
In other news, the former president of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU), Hon Jonathan Asake recently asserted that 148 communities had been attacked in Southern Kaduna within a six year period, occasioning the displacement of 200,000 people. He added: ‘What is going on is ethnic cleansing in Southern Kaduna and the entire Middle Belt. Several communities have been attacked in Southern Kaduna at genocidal proportion.’
Unknown thousands have died in attacks by armed men of Fulani ethnicity on the predominantly Christian area, which have been ongoing since 2011, which increased markedly with the advent of the current administration in 2016, and which are usually timed to coincide with the harvest season and significant Christian celebrations.
On 21 December 2022, seven people were abducted for ransom from Ungwan Aku village in Kajuru LGA.
On the night of 23 December an armed raid on Sokong village in Kaura LGA was repelled by residents. The attack occurred a day after the mass burial of 40 victims of the assaults on the Malagum 1 and Sokwong communities by around 300 militia men who reportedly chanted religious slogans while attacking. The victims included six entire families. In addition, over 102 homes were razed to the ground, and barns containing harvested crops were deliberately destroyed. There is also worrying speculation that bullets and fragments recovered from both scenes may have come from army supplies.
Caption: Bullets recovered from Malagum and Sokwong.
On Christmas Day, one person was killed and 22 were abducted when Ungwan Aku village was attacked again at around 10am.
On 26 December, 14 members of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) church in Giwa LGA were abducted at around 10pm, two people were kidnapped from Gwando village in Kajuru LGA, and around 40 people were reportedly abducted from Ungwan Pah village, also in Kajuru LGA.
Kaduna state has become an epicentre of kidnapping and violence by non-state actors, despite being the most garrisoned state in Nigeria. Attacks in southern Kaduna in particular have continued unabated, with little or belated intervention. Worse still, there is now evidence of links between terrorist factions and the militia groups, and of a Boko Haram presence in the forests in southern Kaduna. In addition, while the current state administration has invested in improvements in the north of Kaduna state, the south, including the predominantly Christian southern part of the state capital, has effectively been neglected.
Commenting on the plight of area in December 2022, human rights activist and former senator for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani tweeted: ‘No part of Kaduna is spared of terrorists attacks, violence and kidnappings. However, the killings in Southern Kaduna by terrorists group is systemic; the people of that part of the state are also institutionally treated like the blacks under apartheid South Africa.’