by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - As Islamic terrorists continue to kidnap Christians in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, in April a pastor’s wife was abducted from her home, two Christian nurses were taken from a hospital and around 70 residents were kidnapped from a single village, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. According to the Open Doors persecution watch group, 990 Christians were kidnapped in Nigeria last year - the highest number anywhere in the world.
The wife of Mercy Place Ministry Church pastor Ozigi Hassan, Fulaki Ozigi was abducted from her home in Kaduna state’s Chikun County in the early hours of April 30, MSN reports. Pastor Ozigi and the couple’s four children were kidnapped at the same time, but police managed to pursue and rescue them, police spokesman Mohammed Jalige said in a statement. However, the terrorists managed to escape with Mrs. Ozigi in captivity.
On April 21, Christian nurses Afiniki Bako and Grace Nkut were abducted from a public hospital in Kajuru County in southern Kaduna state by Fulani herdsmen, MSN reports. In a statement, Ishaku Yakubu, chairman of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives of Nigeria, Kaduna State Chapter, said: “We’re not safe, and health facilities in the state are no longer secured. Besides the kidnapping of these two, five others were kidnapped before.
Then, during the night of April 22, suspected Boko Haram/ISIS militants and Fulani herdsmen kidnapped 72 residents of Libera Gida village in Kaduna’s Kajuru County, MSN. Of those abducted, 56 were females and 16 were male, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union said in a statement. The terrorists have demanded a ransom of 350 million nairas (US$915,033), saying their hostages will be killed if it is not paid.
Christians in Nigeria have been living with the reality of regular kidnappings for a long time. Rev. Solomon Tafida, senior pastor of Salvation Baptist Church, Kaduna, told Mornings Star News: “Most of the Christian victims who escaped from the camps of the herdsmen say there are over 4,000 Christians being held in captive camps in forests along the Kaduna-Abuja highway, near Rijana village.”