“No fewer than 850 Christian Hostages are languishing inside Rijana Forest, near a Nigerian Army Base and others in Kachia county, Southern part of Kaduna State,” the researchers say, quoting the September 4 TruthNigeria report titled “Inside Rijana: Nigeria’s Forest of Hostages.”
Decrying the laxity of Nigerian authorities when it comes to the situation of the Christians still languishing in Rijana, Intersociety researchers say, “The Forest is located along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway and home to the Nigerian Army Table Hill Training Area and Army School of Artillery, among other military sites.”
Intersociety researchers note that Kaduna State is “likely to have recorded the largest number of kidnapped Christians in Nigeria in the past nine or ten months” or between 2 December 2024 and September 28, “with no fewer than 1100 cases.”
The report of TruthNigeria details experiences of 32-year-old Esther Emmanuel and her 10-month-old daughter, Anita, who were kidnapped from their home in Gaude village, Kaduna State, on the night of June 4.
The same night, the Fulani terrorists behind the kidnapping also took 35-year-old farmer Maureen Mica.
Describing the Fulani terrorists’ hideout in Rijana, Maureen is quoted as telling TruthNigeria, “I saw many big camps, about five, but there could be more. Each of them held over 50 hostages. There were also smaller camps with about 30 people each—more than 10 of those. Esther and I were kept in one of the smaller camps, numbering 30. Each camp is named after its commander. Ours was called Sanda, after the commander.”
She recounts that life inside the camp was brutal, and that hostages survived on cornmeal, often without soup, and were regularly beaten.
“We sometimes went seven days without food,” Maureen says, and adds, “If baby Anita cried, the terrorists flogged both the baby, her mother, and me.”
Confirming the cruelty, Esther is quoted telling TruthNigeria, “They warned us never to speak, never to look them in the eye, and never to say Christian prayers. Once, when my baby cried, I tried to breastfeed her. One terrorist snatched her from me. Instead of soothing her, he covered her mouth and nose, choking her. I had to wrestle her back.”
“Prayer was our only consolation,” Esther says, and adds, “In our camp, they executed two people because their parents could not pay ransom. In the bigger camps, executions were more frequent. Anytime we heard gunfire, we knew someone had been killed. Four bursts usually meant two people had been executed.”
