Gunmen Stormed Church, Kidnapped 177 In Nigeria

After days of denying the attack happened, Nigeria’s government has admitted that yes, more than 170 Christians were abducted by armed gunmen interrupting Nigerian church services.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State has held a special prayer session for the safe return of 177 worshippers abducted from churches in Kurmin Wali community, one week after the incident.

The prayer session, held on Sunday at Tawaliu Baptist Church in Maraban Kajuru, brought together Christian leaders from across Kaduna State and the wider northern region as families of the abducted worshippers continued to wait anxiously for their release.

The worshippers, who are members of the Evangelical Church Winning All and the Cherubim and Seraphim churches, were abducted during Sunday services when armed men invaded Kurmin Wali community and forced congregants into surrounding forests. Although a few of the victims later escaped, many remain in captivity.
[…] According to [Reverend Kaura], the Kurmin Wali abduction was not an isolated incident, recalling previous attacks on Buda Church where a pastor and some members were abducted, as well as the killing of a church member in Ugakala Maro last year.

He said that since 2019, no fewer than eleven pastors and their wives had been killed, while several others had been abducted, forcing many communities to abandon their homes. —Invisible Insider

Even such an unlikely voice as the BBC is calling out the dishonest claims of Nigerian leadership:

Nigeria’s police have now confirmed that a group of worshippers was kidnapped from three churches in a remote part of the northern Kaduna state, after previously denying it.
More than two days after the raid on the Kurmin Wali village, police on Tuesday night said that an earlier statement denying the attack had been “widely misinterpreted”.
Local residents told the BBC that 177 worshippers had been abducted but that 11 later escaped. — BBC

Here’s what would have been shown on the news, if anyone cared enough to report it.

🚨 173+ Christians (some reports now say 177) abducted from 3 churches in Kaduna, Nigeria on Jan 18 during Sunday service.

Women weeping in raw video as gunmen stormed in, beat worshippers & dragged them away.

Police finally confirmed after denials.
Media blackout… pic.twitter.com/dRpFN4XORB

— intheMatrixxx (@intheMatrixxx) January 24, 2026

An email of support from Global Christian Relief described it this way:

On Sunday morning (January 18), armed men ambushed three churches in remote Kurmin Wali village in Kaduna state, Nigeria and forced over 170 worshippers into the bush. Their names and ages, carefully traced by concerned neighbors, above.

Since these men, women, and children of all ages have been in the hands of their kidnappers, Nigeria’s authorities have denied the event took place. Under pressure in the last few days, they’ve finally confirmed the kidnapping was real.

This pattern of violence, denial, and silence has become so common in Nigeria that Christian communities have lost confidence in government protection.

But the church is still praying. Still believing. Still holding onto faith that God can do what governments won’t.

The short version of their 4 specific prayer requests are:

• Divine intervention for the captives
• Strength for the vulnerable
• Comfort and healing for the community
• Justice and protection

For those of you who pray, that is what they are asking for in your prayers.

And if you’re maybe wondering why this story hasn’t been a big headline in American outlets? Aside from Minnesota’s attempt to reboot the 2020 ‘Summer of Love’ complete with their own little CHAZ/CHOP re-enactment sucking all the oxygen out of the room for any other story, there’s this little tidbit.

Forget the fact that an ICE agent had a finger bitten off by a ‘peaceful protester’ or whatever they’re calling themselves these days, but look at how the story of the storming of the church was covered… now ask yourselves if any of the ‘reputable’ outlets happened to cover this part of the story:

Tyler O’Neal put out a thread with screenshots of the court documents submitted in the case against the group that stormed the church:

Here’s a sampling of what his evidence describes:

• Blocked stairs so that parents couldn’t get to their kids
• Told kids their parents were Nazis who would burn in Hell
• Blocked exits so that 50 parishioners were unable to leave.
• One woman broke her arm
• Screamed into the faces of crying children

And of course, local judges (not to mention elected officials) are impeding the process at every step of the the way.

If we can’t even trust ‘news’ agencies to care enough to get a story in Minnesota right, what chance do they have of reporting correctly about events on the other side of the planet?