ABUJA, Nigeria, August 30, 2023 (Morning Star News) – Two Christians were kidnapped on Friday (Aug. 25) in Kaduna state, Nigeria, two days after gunmen described as terrorists killed a Baptist pastor in another area of the state, sources said.
Terrorists on Friday night (Aug. 25) invaded the predominantly Christian community of Wusasa, Zaria, and kidnapped the two Christians, brothers Yusha’u Peter and Joshua Peter, staff members of St. Luke’s Anglican Hospital in Wusasa, a community leader in the area said.
Isiyaku Ibrahim said the brothers were abducted at about 9 p.m. by “terrorists.”
“This is coming not long after the father of the two victims was also kidnapped and taken into captivity by the terrorists,” Ibrahim told Morning Star News in a text message. “The terrorists have so often made our area their target of attacks and abductions of our people. In fact, recently two Christians in our community were killed in similar attacks.”
The two brothers had fled to Zaria from Ikara in Kaduna state after their father was kidnapped there, according to local reports.
The abductions come after the Rev. Jeremiah Mayau, 61-year-old pastor of Tawaliu Baptist Church in Ungwan Mission, Kujama in Chikun County, was shot to death on Aug. 23.
“Rev. Jeremiah Mayau was attacked and shot to death by the terrorists while he was working on his farm,” area resident Matthew Audu told Morning Star News in a text message. “He was killed at about 2 p.m. and was shot on the head.”
The Rev. Joseph John Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State Chapter, also described the killers as terrorists.
“Terrorists stormed a community in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna and shot dead one Rev. Jeremiah Mayau, a pastor of Tawaliu Baptist Church, Kujama,” while the pastor was working on his farm in Kujama, Hayab said in a press statement. “The incident occurred when the cleric was on his farm. It was barbaric.”
