Nine Parishioners Kidnapped, Two Killed, Catholic Priest in Nigeria Recounts Ordeal of Community “under siege”

He attributed the renewed violence to a “bandit kingpin”, who Fr. Shidi says noticed increased farming activity.

“The bandit kingpin noticed that people had returned to their farms. He was not happy with the development and orchestrated the kidnapping of these nine persons who happened to be my parishioners,” he recounted, adding that because the attack occurred on the outskirts of the village, intervention was limited.

Fr. Shidi continued, “Some victims were shot, including brothers of those abducted. Because the assault took place far from the settlement, there was little the community could do at that moment.”

“The bandit kingpin gathered them and selected the ones he would go with, and the rest were asked to return home,” he recalled the June 12 incident in his Parish.

Asked about the response from security agencies in the area, Fr. Shidi said, “To the best of my knowledge, no security personnel had arrived on the scene by the time the bandits had left the area the evening after the incident.”

He went on to highlight the needs of the community members following the attack. He said, “They need food, financial support for medications and hospital bills, and a security presence both around the community and on their farmlands.”

The community members, he said, “need our prayers and material support, both in cash and kind. If necessary, they should be relocated to Kwakware, where many are already taking refuge.”

Despite the emotional toll, the Father in charge of St. Joseph Gidan Namone Parish acknowledged the resilience of his Parishioners and their faith. “It has been emotionally and psychologically draining, but we are a resilient community, and our faith is not dampened,” he told ACI Africa.

“This is not just a local problem. The entire country needs to understand what these people are going through. The insecurity in rural Nigeria is real, and it's tearing families apart,” Fr. Shidi added.

He urged the Christian community members and people of goodwill to show solidarity, saying, “Support them financially, materially, and spiritually. If possible, help train the children of the victims who lost their lives. This is the least we can do.”

Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009, when the Boko Haram insurgency began with the aim of turning the country into an Islamic state.

Since then, the group, one of the largest Islamist groups in Africa, has been orchestrating indiscriminate terrorist attacks on various targets, including religious and political groups as well as civilians.

The insecurity situation in the country has further been complicated by the involvement of the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen, also referred to as the Fulani Militia.

On June 13, Islamist Fulani militants attacked the town of Yelewata in Nigeria’s Benue State, killing at least 200 persons in what international aid organizations have termed the “worst killing spree” in the Nigerian region.

In the attack that has been widely condemned, with Pope Leo XIV extending his spiritual closeness to victims of the massacre, the attackers reportedly targeted Christians living as internally displaced people (IDPs), setting fire to buildings where families were taking shelter and assaulting with machetes anyone who attempted to flee.

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In a June 21 interview with ACI Africa, some survivors of the June 13 attacks shared their ordeal.

“Fulani herdsmen came into Yelwata East and started firing gunshots. They fired for almost five hours, and though the police put up resistance, the attackers moved toward Yelwata New Market where they slaughtered more than a hundred persons,” one of the survivors, Maxwell Ayua, recounted.

He added, “My wife, my brother, and my four children—all were killed in the market area. They burned some of our people in stores – some shelters had over 50 persons, and all were burned down. Others were slaughtered and burned to ashes. Three people were killed in one house alone.”

Maxwell said the attackers were identifiable, saying, “They were four in number, and they are Fulanis. I saw them.”

Another witness, Matthew Nlan, dismissed narratives that attempt to downplay the ethnic dimension of the violence. He lamented, “It’s not about profiling. The Sultan of Sokoto reacted when 11 alleged hunters were killed in another State. The Northern Elders Forum spoke. Governors rose in solidarity. But now, with over 200 dead in Benue, the North is quiet.”

Matthew said the attacks are part of a broader agenda. For him, “It’s not about open grazing anymore. It’s about full occupation. Fulani families now live in our homes. Their children crawl on the floors of houses they didn’t build, and we are standing on the dead bodies of our mothers, fathers, and siblings. We have become IDPs in our own homeland.”

He called on the government to act, saying, “If the President cannot act decisively in the face of this horror, then he is either unfit or unwilling. And if the Governor feels helpless, he should resign. Nigerians are tired of politicians making empty promises while bodies pile up.”