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By Lizzy Chirkpi
Bandits who abducted Christian worshippers from Kurmin Wali community in southern Kaduna recently have demanded about ₦29 million as a precondition for opening ransom talks, even as 166 victims, including women and children, remain in captivity.
The worshippers were seized on Sunday when armed men stormed three churches during services, abducting more than 170 people in what residents described as the second deadliest attack on the community within a week. While 11 of the victims reportedly escaped, the fate of the remaining captives has remained uncertain.
Although the abductors have not yet made a formal ransom demand, residents said the gunmen contacted a negotiator by phone and insisted that the community must first replace 17 motorcycles allegedly lost by the bandits during recent military operations.
“They said each bike is worth ₦1.7 million, and we must pay for all of them before they will demand the actual ransom for the hostages,” said Linus Abu, a resident of Kurmin Wali.
The demand translates to about ₦28.9 million, separate from any eventual ransom for the abducted worshippers.
Abu recalled that the community was still reeling from an earlier kidnapping on January 11, when several villagers were abducted and later freed after a ransom payment.
“We paid ₦23 million before those kidnapped on January 11 were released,” he said. “The terrorists called us and gave instructions. Some of our people had to carry the money in sacks and take it to them inside the bush.”
Fear has since paralysed Kurmin Wali, with residents fleeing to neighbouring villages, farms abandoned, and schools shut indefinitely.
The abductions initially triggered confusion, as the Kaduna State Government, the state police command, and the Chairman of Kajuru Local Government Area dismissed early reports as false. However, the Chairman of the Northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Joseph Hayab, confirmed the incident.
Late Tuesday, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, also confirmed the abductions, clarifying that earlier comments by the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, CP Muhammad Rabiu, were “a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected.”
Family members of the abducted worshippers accused authorities of downplaying their ordeal.
“Our people are suffering in the forest, and the government is saying nothing happened,” one distraught resident said. “Who will help us?”
The kidnappings occurred around Gabachua, Legede and the Agwalla mountain and forest corridors, areas long identified by residents as bandit hideouts used to launch attacks across Kauru, Kajuru and neighbouring communities.
It’s believed that with the ongoing military operations that have destroyed several camps, dislodged bandits often retaliate by targeting vulnerable communities. The latest abductions once again underscore the deepening security crisis in Southern and Central Kaduna, where armed banditry has persisted for more than a decade amid vast ungoverned forest spaces and porous borders.