By Luka Binniyat & Izhi Adamu Bitrus
(Wukari) Taraba state–In the wake of a brutal midnight raid on Wagga Mongono village Madagali County of Adamawa state, Northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram insurgents abducted four Christian farmers on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, while retreating to their hideout, a local source has revealed to TruthNigeria.
One of the victims was slaughtered for allegedly refusing to cooperate with his captors.
Villagers Ambushed After Farming Trip
According to residents, five villagers were intercepted by the armed group while returning from gathering shea nuts, a vital crop for local farmers. The abductees were forced into the bush as the insurgents demanded ransom, food supplies, and communication gadgets.
“They initially asked for ₦30 million ($20,210), but after negotiations, they released two victims on Friday, September 26, after we raised ₦1.7 million ($1,145),” a Madagali farmer who spoke to TruthNigeria under anonymity said.
The source further disclosed that Boko Haram demanded “one smartphone, 10 basic phones, cartons of spaghetti, and a sack of adult shoes of different sizes.”
Tragically, one of the five captives was executed on the spot, leaving two others still unaccounted for in the insurgents’ custody.
Wagga Mongono Attack Leaves Community Devastated
The abductions came just hours after Boko Haram launched a coordinated assault on Wagga Mongono, a predominantly Christian farming community in Madagali County. Witnesses said the insurgents stormed the village around 8:30 p.m. on September 24, unleashing chaos until early the next morning.
At least five people were confirmed dead, including 38-year-old Omega Dumi, 35-year-old Junior Jacobs, and 38-year-old Nuhu Ngame. Several others sustained injuries.
“They burnt down the Church of the Brethren (EYN), tied up Mr. David Ndave, 45, and his son Daniel, and set them ablaze inside their family compound,” a community leader told TruthNigeria.
The attackers also destroyed homes, shops, and food barns, leaving nearly 300 residents displaced.
Long Shadow of Insecurity
The September assault is the latest in a series of Boko Haram atrocities that have plagued Madagali and its environs for more than a decade.
One displaced farmer recalled a 2014 attack in Bakin Dutse, Bulak ward, when insurgents torched his harvest of maize, beans, and groundnuts, and carted away his motorcycle and car.
“Since then, my family of eight has been living as displaced persons in Jos, Plateau State,” he said.
Statistics compiled by civil groups show that more than 2,053 people have been killed in Adamawa State alone since January 2014. Thousands more have fled to neighboring Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba, and safer parts of Adamawa and Borno states.
According to a European government source, “Adamawa had the second highest number of IDPs after Borno in the North-Est region. IDPs in Adamawa by November 2020 were 209, 252.”
A Pattern of Violence
Between September 5–7, 2014, Madagali, Gulak, Basa, and Michika were overrun by Boko Haram, sparking mass displacement into Mubi, Maiha, and beyond. Many of those communities remain scarred by repeated assaults.
For residents of Madagali, the September 2025 twin tragedies—an abduction and a massacre—are stark reminders of the state’s fragile security. Despite years of military campaigns, Boko Haram continues to operate with deadly efficiency in Adamawa’s rural heartlands.
‘Conspiratorial lack of interest by the media’
The President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr Pogu Bitrus, observed with dismay what he described as “conspiratorial lack of interest” in what he isists as the raging genocide against the Christians of the North East.
Bitrus, a native of Chibok town, which made global headlines with the 2014 abduction of 278 Christian girls from a female boarding school, told TruthNigeria in an exclusive chat that most of the ongoing attacks on Christian Communities in the North East are never captured in both Nigeria and international media.
“There is a conspiratorial lack of interest in the raging genocide against the Christians of the Middle Belt by Boko Haram,” he said.
“They just wait to be spoon-fed by military or state government issued statements, usually claiming victories over the terrorists, even when such claims cannot be substantiated,” he said.
“No media is asking about the nearly one million refugees (mainly Christian of the North East) that have fled to Cameroon since 2014 till date,” he said.
“I want to single out TruthNigeria for praise by the courage of their reporters and their publishers in telling the truth about the evil that Christians in the Middle Belt are going through,” said.
Luka Binniyat writes on Conflict and Politics for TruthNigeria from Kaduna and Izhi Bitrus Adamu contributes from Wukari
