Kaduna Kidnappings: Bandits Hold 166 Worshippers, Demand ₦29m in “Motorcycle Deposit” After Church Attacks
Fear grips Kurmin Wali in Southern Kaduna as bandits abduct 177 church worshippers. With 166 still in captivity, abductors demand nearly ₦29m for lost motorcycles before ransom talks.
Panic in Southern Kaduna as Bandits Hold 166 Worshippers, Demand ₦29m Deposit
Kurmin Wali, a quiet Christian community in Southern Kaduna, has been plunged into fear and uncertainty following a coordinated mass abduction that has left 166 worshippers in the hands of kidnappers. The attack, which occurred during Sunday church services, is the second violent incident in the community within a week and has effectively brought daily life to a standstill.
Gunmen stormed three churches in the village on Sunday morning, abducting 177 worshippers, including women, children, and elderly members of the congregation. The attackers, witnesses said, arrived in large numbers, wielding AK-47 rifles and moving with chilling precision. They ordered worshippers not to flee and began gathering people from different churches before marching them into the surrounding forest.
Initial reports of the abduction were dismissed by local authorities on Monday, with the Kaduna State Government, the state police command, and the chairman of Kajuru Local Government Area describing the claims as false. However, the Northern Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Joseph Hayab, insisted the incident was real.
Late Tuesday, the Nigeria Police Force confirmed the abductions. Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, clarified on X that earlier comments by the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police were not denials but a “measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected.”
By Wednesday, the reality on the ground told a grim story. Kurmin Wali was almost deserted. Homes were abandoned, farms left untended, and schools shut indefinitely. Fear has driven residents to flee to neighboring communities.
“We have not even recovered from what happened on January 11,” said Linus Abu, a villager. “That day, suspected armed Fulani militia kidnapped some of our people. We paid ₦23 million as ransom before they were released.”
According to Abu, the process was harrowing. “They called us and gave instructions. Some of our people carried the money in sacks into the bush to meet them,” he recounted.
This time, the scale is far worse. While 11 of the 177 abducted villagers managed to escape, 166 people remain in captivity. Unlike the earlier attack, the kidnappers have not yet issued a formal ransom demand. Instead, they have imposed a chilling precondition.
“They said we must return 17 motorcycles they lost during recent military operations,” Abu explained. “Each bike, they say, is worth ₦1.7 million. We must pay for all of them before they will even talk about ransom.”
That demand alone amounts to nearly ₦29 million, separate from whatever ransom may later be imposed for the release of the captives.
The village head of Kurmin Wali, Ishaku Dan’azumi, confirmed this during a telephone interview. He said the bandits contacted a negotiator acting on behalf of the community and insisted that the missing motorcycles must be replaced.
“They accused our people of stealing their motorcycles and removing parts like carburettors and spark plugs,” Dan’azumi said. “They told the negotiator that all 17 motorcycles must be returned before they will release our people.”
He added that, so far, no direct monetary ransom has been demanded beyond the issue of the motorcycles.
Fear has paralyzed the community. Hasan Emman, a farmer, described the mood: “There is no school, no farming. Most of us have run away. We cannot stay here anymore.”
The village market, once bustling, now lies deserted. Shops are locked, and the few residents still around move cautiously, unwilling to speak. Families of the abducted are distraught, accusing authorities of downplaying their suffering.
“Our people are suffering in the forest, and the government is saying nothing happened,” one resident lamented. “Who will help us?”
Church officials and survivors gave harrowing accounts of how the attacks unfolded. The assailants struck around 9 a.m. on Sunday, January 18, 2026, invading multiple churches simultaneously.
Yunana Dauji, Secretary of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Kurmin Wali, said two branches of his church were surrounded during worship.
“They threatened anyone who tried to escape,” he said. “They forced worshippers to march from one church to another, gathering over 50 people from our denomination alone before leading everyone away.”
The Evangelical Church Winning All was also targeted. Its secretary, Joseph Bawa, said the gunmen burst in shouting and immediately began seizing worshippers.
“They gathered people from different churches and marched all of us together into the forest,” he said.
Among those abducted was the village head himself. His son, Linus Madami, confirmed that Dan’azumi later escaped with 10 others.
“My father managed to escape, but his two wives and two children are still with the kidnappers,” Madami said. “In total, 177 people were taken. I narrowly escaped after struggling with one of the gunmen.”
Some captives found an opportunity to flee during the forced trek through the forest. Bawa explained that when the group reached a shallow river, the kidnappers ordered everyone to cross.
“A few people deliberately slowed down,” he said. “Once the kidnappers crossed, those who delayed ran back toward the village because the attackers could not cross back quickly.”
Military Reaction
Multiple military sources told journalists that the attack was linked to ongoing operations against bandit camps in neighboring Kauru Local Government Area. According to the sources, troops recently dislodged armed groups from key hideouts, forcing them to scatter into nearby areas, including Kajuru.
“The assailants were forced out of their camps during intense military offensives,” one source said. “The mass abduction was carried out as they fled mounting pressure.”
The affected camps around Gabachua, Legede, and the Agwalla mountain corridors have long served as bandit enclaves for kidnappings and cattle rustling across Kauru, Kajuru, and surrounding communities.
Another source described the Kurmin Wali attack as retaliatory. “The bandits lost logistics, including motorcycles used for mobility. The abduction was aimed at compensating for those losses and instilling fear as they fled.”
For Kurmin Wali, the future is uncertain. With no clear timeline for negotiations and residents scattered in fear, families can only wait and pray as their loved ones remain in the forest—hostages to violence, poverty, and a security crisis that refuses to fade.
Security sources further revealed that troops had earlier acted on credible intelligence indicating the movement of the fleeing bandits and were deployed to intercept them. However, the attackers reportedly altered their route, diverting toward the mountainous forest belts around the Karamai and Rijana axis, where the rugged terrain gave them a tactical advantage and helped them evade capture.
In response, the military has placed all units in the area on full alert. What authorities described as “exploitation and hot pursuit operations” are now underway across the forest corridors and surrounding bushes.
“Operations are ongoing to stabilise the area, track the fleeing criminals, and rescue the abducted victims,” a security source disclosed.
The latest mass abduction has once again highlighted the persistent security challenges in parts of Southern and Central Kaduna. Armed banditry has thrived in the region for over a decade, fueled by vast ungoverned forest spaces, difficult terrain, and porous inter-state borders that allow criminals to move freely across jurisdictions.
Communities in Kauru and Kajuru Local Government Areas have repeatedly come under attack, even amid intensified military operations launched under various Federal Government security initiatives. While recent offensives have led to the destruction of several bandit camps and the neutralisation of suspected criminals, security analysts warn that dislodged fighters often respond by attacking “soft targets” such as rural communities and places of worship while attempting to escape pressure from troops.
Residents and community leaders in the affected LGAs have therefore appealed to both the Federal and Kaduna State governments to sustain military pressure in the region, deploy additional troops, and strengthen intelligence gathering. They insist that only a continuous and visible security presence can protect vulnerable villages and ensure the safe rescue of the abducted worshippers.
Meanwhile, the Commandant of the 2 National Mission Force Brigade in Samaru Kataf, Navy Captain I. T. Akaazua, confirmed that troops have recorded some successes in the ongoing operations. He disclosed that three kidnapped victims, including a child, had been rescued, while several terrorist camps were destroyed in parts of Kauru Local Government Area.
Speaking by telephone, Akaazua said the camps—long used as operational enclaves by bandits—were dismantled during sustained military offensives, contributing to a gradual restoration of calm in some communities.
“Apart from a previous operation where about 70 terrorists were neutralised, another operation carried out on Tuesday led to the rescue of three victims, including a child,” he said.
He explained that troops have been engaging the criminals in fierce gun battles, but acknowledged that the bandits often enjoy an advantage because of the dense forest cover and difficult terrain.
“They know the terrain better than us because of the density of the forest,” Akaazua said. “Most of the affected communities are remote villages with little or no security presence, and security personnel cannot be everywhere.”
He added that while many camps have been destroyed, a few remain deep inside extremely thick forest areas that are difficult to access.
For residents of Kurmin Wali and neighboring communities, these assurances offer only cautious hope. With 166 worshippers still in captivity and negotiations stalled by the bandits’ demand for nearly ₦29 million worth of motorcycles, families remain trapped between fear and uncertainty. As military operations intensify across the forest corridors, villagers can only wait, praying that the ongoing pursuit will bring their loved ones home alive.
