₦3.8bn ransom demanded in Kwara Church kidnapping as terrorists raid Niger school

Terrorists who abducted about 35 worshippers from the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke-Igan, Eruku, in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, have demanded ₦100 million per victim, The PUNCH reported.

The attackers stormed the church during an evening service on Tuesday, forcing worshippers to the floor as gunfire rang out before marching dozens into the bush. Family members and community leaders told the newspaper that the abductors were demanding ₦100 million for each person taken.

Josiah Agbabiaka, secretary of the CAC assembly, said some relatives had already been contacted.

“It is true that the bandits have started contacting family members using the victims’ phones to demand ransom,” he said. “From what we were told, they grouped the victims. The first group of 11 people has been asked to pay ₦100 million each.”

Chief Olusegun Olukotun, the Olori Eta of Eruku, whose four relatives were abducted, confirmed the pattern.

“Some people in the community have received calls from the kidnappers demanding ₦100 million for each person,” he said. “They said the victims were grouped and they are calling each group’s relatives.” Olukotun said he escaped through a church window while other members of his family were taken.

The Owa of Eruku, Oba Busari Olarewaju, appealed for urgent intervention. “Their presence gave us some assurance that the government is responding,” he said after the governor visited and troops arrived. “But we are still appealing that efforts should be intensified to rescue our people as quickly as possible.”

Kwara police spokesperson Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi said the command had no “official report of ransom demand,” adding that “tactical teams, alongside the military and other security agencies, are on ground and making concerted efforts to rescue the abducted victims.”

Niger School Raided

The attack on the Kwara church comes amid a sharp escalation in terrorist and insurgent violence across northern Nigeria.

In the past week alone, ISWAP and other armed groups have launched coordinated assaults on military units, rural communities, and schools.

The ISWAP, a breakaway Boko Haram group, ambushed in Borno that killed three soldiers and led to the abduction and later killing of a brigadier general. Armed men kidnapped 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State.

Early Friday, armed men struck St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting an unconfirmed number of students and staff.

Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said tactical teams and military units had been deployed. He added that the Commissioner of Police would “take necessary action” against the school management for reopening “contrary to the State government directive on closure of schools in the area due to security challenges.”

Niger State officials said earlier intelligence had warned of heightened threats. But the school resumed academic activities without clearance, according to Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Usman.

Papiri is about 70 km from Babana, where JNIM fighters announced their presence in July, deepening fears of Sahel-linked extremist expansion into Nigeria’s North-Central region.

PREMIUM TIMES quoted a source saying the attackers arrived with “60 motorcycles and a van” and fled with the students and teachers. The raid came barely a week after the abduction of 25 students in Kebbi State.