Christians Abducted from Choir Practice as Nigerian Herdsmen Violence Continues Unabated
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Seventeen people were abducted by Islamic Herdsmen militias in Dankande Village of Nigeria’s Kaduna State Sunday in a perpetuation of violence against Christians that has seen five similar incursions in the last few months.
Rev. Zechariah Ido, his daughter, and fifteen others were taken at about 12:30 Midnight by several dozen armed gunmen as they met for choir practice at the local Evangelical Church Winning All congregation as part of a raid that also involved a home break-in where one other person was killed.
“We have no arms and we cannot stand them, we are just at their mercy because they are well armed and they always come in large numbers,” an unnamed eyewitness said.
In March, the Kaduna State governor instituted an after-daylight curfew in an attempt to stay the violence by the predominantly Muslim Fulani Herdsmen, whose activities in Nigeria’s Plateau State a few years ago prompted members of the Nigerian House of Representatives to declare in July 2018 that a genocide was going on in their country.
More than 500 Christians have been killed by Boko Haram–the Nigerian version of ISIS–and roving bands of Muslim Fulani Herdsmen in the last year and a half alone, adding to a toll that slates Nigeria to once again account for most of the world’s Christian martyrdoms in 2019.