Eunice Obadiah survived Rijana; Her government pretends it doesn’t exist
By Mike Odeh James and Luka Binniyat
(Kajuru, Kaduna State) Eunice Obadiah, 14, was chained in a Nigerian forest kidnap camp for 138 days. Her captors beat her daily. Her government denies the camp exists.
On October 23, 2025, armed Fulani Ethnic Militia fighters dragged Eunice Obadiah and her mother from their home in Remau Village, Kajuru County, Kaduna State and marched them at gunpoint into Rijana Forest. They would not see their village again for nearly five months.
Speaking exclusively to TruthNigeria from a Kaduna hospital bed — the first time either has spoken since their release — mother and daughter have broken their silence.
Chained, Beaten, Watching Death
Inside the camp Eunice was chained at her wrists and both feet. She could not stand without permission. She was beaten daily — with fists, boots, and gun butts. As with other hostages she was fed once a day, denied use of a toilet, and watched young men in the camp shot dead in front of her. She watched girls dragged away and raped. At one point, a gun was pressed to her own temple.
Every morning, she was marched to the River Kaduna to wash her captors’ clothes. She counted at least 40 fellow captives and more than 30 gunmen.
Her mother, Martha, 40, endured identical treatment. Fulani Ethnic Militia fighters had smashed their doors at midnight, Oct. 23, demanding her husband. When they could not find him, they seized his wife and daughter instead.
“Whenever we tried to pray,” Martha told TruthNigeria exclusively, “they beat us harder and shouted that there is no Christian God.”
Starved and Skeletal in Hospital Ward
Today, mother and daughter lie in that Kaduna hospital, unable to be discharged and unable to pay the bill. Eunice’s frame is skeletal — collarbones jutting, arms wasted, eyes sunken into a gaunt face. Martha is equally ravaged: cheeks hollowed; body stripped of flesh by five months of starvation. Neither can eat a full meal without vomiting. Neither can walk unassisted.
Hospital staff confirms severe malnutrition. No official from the office of the National Security Advisor in Abuja has paid a visit, although the NSA’s office made a grand show of 54 rescued hostages from Rijana Forest in February 2025.
No government welfare officer has visited. No victim-support fund exists. Nobody from the Kaduna State Government has appeared. There is only the accumulating bill.
Forest the Army Ignores
Rijana is a town in Kajuru County of Kaduna State, positioned along the Abuja–Kaduna highway corridor. It lies approximately 36 miles south of Kaduna City. The area is within a forest–savannah transition belt, with dense bush stretching westward toward the Kaduna–Niger State boundary. This forest close to the border with Niger State is where Fulani Ethnic Militia keeps Christians kidnapped from other regions of Kaduna.
Rijana Forest is within reach of three Nigerian military bases — yet military spokesmen have for months ignored documented reports of torture camps holding hundreds of captives.
TruthNigeria has conducted more than 50 taped interviews with survivors since February 2025, mapping at least 30 sub-camps across the forest, each named after its commander.
Between December 2024 and August 2025 alone, more than 100 captives were killed or hacked to death inside Rijana’s camps, according to freed survivors.https://truthnigeria.com/2025/09/inside-rijana-nigerias-forest-of-hostages/
In Kajuru and Kauru Counties, nearly 1,000 Christians were abducted in a single year — most cases never reported to authorities.
Nigerian army and police spokesmen routinely refuse calls for comment. No major Nigerian newspaper has run a close investigation of the Rijana hostage camp allegations. No Western outlet has tasked a correspondent to investigate.
Another Survivor. Another Unpaid Hospital Bed
Friday Auta, a Christian farmer who was seized with his younger brother while farming at Tantatu in Kajuru County. At least 19 armed men stormed the farm and forced the brothers into the forest at gunpoint.
For five days, they trekked without food or water — beaten if they collapsed. At the camp, the tortures doubled.
“They deliberately wounded us and broke the legs of some captives so we would be too weak to escape,” Auta told TruthNigeria. “The chain dug deep into my flesh. I am lucky to be alive. Many people who entered that forest never came out.”
His family sold everything and borrowed to raise a ₦6 million ransom (approximately $3,750), which had to be paid before a February deadline under threat of execution. He survived.
Not everyone does. On March 6, 2026, Fulani Terrorists stormed Mararaban-Kajuru village and attempted to abduct farmer Tijanni Adadu. He ran. He escaped. Bullets tore through his leg and shoulder.
Since March 7, he has been treated in a hospital bed. Doctors told TruthNigeria they cannot remove the bullets — they lack the basic materials. His wounds now ooze continuously. He cries out in pain. No one has acted.
The Scale: 32 Dead Per Day
At least 7,087 Christians were killed across Nigeria in the first 220 days of 2025 alone — 32 per day — with an additional 7,899 abducted for their faith. Nigeria ranked seventh globally on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of countries most dangerous for Christians. Genocide Watch has classified the violence targeting Nigeria’s Indigenous Christians as meeting the threshold for genocide warning-level atrocities.
Mike Odeh James and Luka Binniyat are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.