Persecuted church agency Open Doors is calling upon the Nigerian President urgently to liberate the 500 or so mostly women and schoolchildren abducted by Islamist terrorists in the past few weeks.
In Gamboru Ngala, a market town in Borno State, 200 people were kidnapped when they were going to collect firewood. The other abduction, from Kaduna State in northern Nigeria, saw 280 students, some as young as eight years old, taken by gunmen on motorcycles.
The BBC reported that 17-year-old Musa Garba* had to slither on the ground like a snake to avoid being detected by his kidnappers as he made his escape through the bush of northern Nigeria. Earlier, camouflaged by his school uniform, he had managed to hide in a heap of cut grass as the group of schoolchildren he was abducted with were taking a break from their forced trek.
He said: ‘We saw motorbikes on the road. We thought they were soldiers, before we realised they had occupied the school premises and started shooting. We tried to run away, but they chased us and caught us. They gathered us like cows into the bush’.
Nigerian lawyer Jabez Musa* said: ‘This is a rise in kidnappings. Abductions have been taking place, one here another there, but this is quite different now. Our government has not reacted yet. We are waiting to hear from them to see what they can do.’
CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland, Henrietta Blyth, said: ‘We are urgently calling on the Nigerian president to liberate those abducted in these mass abductions. Boko Haram is notorious for targeting Christians, abducting and killing men and abducting, raping and forcibly marrying women and girls.
‘We also urge the Nigerian government to work to get the hostages already held by Boko Haram liberated – including the 100 Chibok girls who are still held captive, having been seized ten years ago now.’
According to Open Doors research, more than 37,500 people are estimated to have been killed since Boko Haram’s insurgency started in Nigeria in 2011. The country is ranked at number six on Open Doors’ World Watch List, where life for Christians is the most dangerous.
*names changed to ensure anonymity.
