From Kaura County, Ground Zero for Kidnapping with Impunity
By Luka Binniyat
(Kaduna) – Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Amos, a Catholic priest in Kurmin Risga, Kauru LGA, Kaduna State, was abducted early Thursday morning, 24 April 24, 2025, by armed men, according to the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan. His kidnapping follows a recent pattern of attacks on clergy, including the March 4 abduction and killing of Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu nearby. The diocese has urged prayers and legal efforts for Fr. Amos’s release.
Kaura County (Local Government Area) has become Hell for Christian farmers since early December of 2024, when Fulani Ethnic Militia began scooping up whole families with impunity. Scores have been held for months in the moving torture camps kidnappers keep in the forest 13 miles south of Kaduna city. TruthNigeria reporters have debriefed survivors of three groups of kidnap victims either from Kauru or from Kajuru counties.
Tension is high in the region as suspected Fulani militias and cattle rustlers were sighted nearby. Kaduna has recorded 25 of 145 priest abductions nationwide since 2015, with seven victims killed.
Another Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Amos, was abducted from his parish in Kurmin Risga, Kauru Local Government Area, early Thursday morning by armed men, according to a statement released by the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan.
This latest incident follows a disturbing pattern of kidnappings targeting Catholic clergy and Christian communities in the predominantly Christian southern region of Kaduna State. The abduction was the second in Southern Kaduna in less than two months: Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu was taken from his residence in Tachira, Kaura Local Government Area, on March 4, 2025—approximately 25 miles from the site of Thursday’s kidnapping. Fr. Okechukwu was killed by his abductors the following day.
A terse statement issued by the Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, Rev. Fr. Jacob Shanet, and made available to TruthNigeria, reads:
“With profound sorrow, we write to announce that Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Amos, the Parish Priest of St. Gerald Quasi Parish, Kurmin Risga, Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, was abducted.
The sad event occurred on Thursday, 24th April 2025, in his residence in Kurmin Risga at about 12:15 a.m.
While we solicit your prayers for his quick and safe release, we invite the public to avoid taking the law into their own hands.
We will use every legitimate and available means to ensure that Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Amos returns to us unharmed and in good health.”
According to data from Vatican News, 145 Catholic priests have been kidnapped in Nigeria between 2015 and 2025, with Kaduna State accounting for 25 of those cases. Seven of those priests were brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, heightened tension grips Kauru and neighboring Bassa Local Government Area in Plateau State, after armed Fulani herdsmen were reportedly seen on motorbikes descending from the Miango hills, moving through the Kaduna River valley toward Badaru and Bari communities in Chawai Chiefdom, Kauru.
Exclusive sources told TruthNigeria that the movement of the armed men coincided with the passage of large herds of cattle, believed to be stolen by suspected Fulani rustlers fleeing from Plateau State.
The concentration of the armed men, believed to be Fulani militias, is reported to be just five miles from Kurmin Risga—the location of Rev. Fr. Amos’s abduction.
Efforts to reach Kaduna State Police spokesman, ASP Hassan Mansir, were unsuccessful, as he failed to return calls or respond to text messages at the time of filing this report.
Luka Binniyat is an award conflict reporter that writes for TruthNigeria from Kaduna state, Nigeria.
