Kurmin Wali Village Waiting for 17 Residents to Return

By Luka Binniyat and Mike James Odeh

(Kaduna) – In the scrubby town of Kurmin Wali, Nigeria, 40 miles south of Kaduna City,  church worship is everything. At the popular Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, they wear white robes every Sunday and dance before their King. 

But talk to forty-something Amos Ishaku, Assistant Secretary of the church today, and you might be surprised to find that more people are standing guard outside the church building on Sunday holding loaded pipe guns than those sitting inside the church,” he told TruthNigeria recently. 

No fewer than 17 persons have been kidnapped from Kurmin Wali village in Kaduna’s Kajuru Local Government Area (County) since the January 18 mass kidnapping of 176 churchgoers, which stirred national outrage in Nigeria, TruthNigeria has learned.

“We just want a military base here and nothing more,” said Ishaku.

“We are still living here at great risk of another mass kidnapping,” he added.

Kurmin Wali is one of the isolated communities in Afogo precinct in Kajuru County, Southern Kaduna, in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.

On Sunday morning, January 18, 2026, scores of Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) holding assault rifles streamed into the community and abducted congregations from three churches –  177  worshippers –  and herded them into the bush, several news outlets reported, though with conflicting figures.

The Kaduna State government and the Nigerian police initially denied the report and warned against spreading “false” information.

The denial of the crime stirred more anger nationally, and the government later agreed that it was misled, prompting Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State to visit the village on January 22, 2026.

Only One of Five Promises Kept 

While in the community, the governor affirmed the proximity of Kurmin Wali to the notorious FEM camps of Rijana and assured the community of a military base, according to Premium Times. 

He also promised to construct an access road to the community, build a health centre there, including a skills acquisition centre.

But most importantly, he promised that the hostages would be freed.

“The only promise that Governor Uba Sani kept was the return of our kidnapped people,” said Philip Anthony, 40, Secretary of Albarka Cherubim and Serafrim Church, Kurmin Wali 1.

17 Kidnapped After January 18

“Apart from that nothing has improved or changed here since the return of our people,” he told TruthNigeria reporters who went on a fact finding mission to the village Sunday August 30, 2026.

“Since that time no less than 17 people have been kidnapped at various times, especially on their farms or on their ways to a neighbouring community,” he said.

The ransoms collected for the hapless farm folk range from $2,000 to $5,000, according to survivor accounts. The kidnapping gangs collect hostages across the width of Southern Kaduna and collect up to $1.4 million in ransoms annually from the state. 

“As you can see, the village is almost deserted. Everyone is afraid. A few of us who have resolved never to leave our ancestral lands for criminals are still here. And we shall be here, even if we have to perish,” he said.

“We don’t care about a hospital or roads or a skill training center,” he said.

“The only promise we the governor has to fulfill is to bring in a military base,” he added.

Philip, who said that 52 worshippers were kidnapped from his church, confirmed that the number of hostages actually taken to the terrorists’ camps was 183 and that all were released, confirming the government’s account.

How The Mass Abduction Took Place 

Ishaku, who was in church on the day of the kidnapping, said he escaped by the grace of God.

“They seem to have suddenly appeared and were everywhere with guns,” he said.

“Some of them entered the church and ordered that we all lie down in Hausa language but with a Fulani accent,” he said.

A few obeyed, mostly women, while the men and younger women either jumped through the windows or charged directly at the intruders manning the church doors, he said.

Strangely, they didn’t shoot, probably not to alarm the larger community and neighbouring ones.

“I wrestled with one of them and knocked him over and fled with my 10 year old daughter,” he said.

According to him, the Fulani terrorists took away 92 persons from his church.

“11 of them, later escaped,” he said.

He said that the community has been over-bled by constant ransom payments after the January 18 mass kidnapping.

“I can say that those who have been kidnapped since the January kidnapping are between 17 or 20.

“And that’s just for Kurmin Wali 1, not including other villages,” he said.

“If we have a security post here, I can assure you that those who left will return and we shall rebuild this village and prosper again,” he said.

Escaped, But Returned To Join Kidnapped Family 

Maigirma Shekarau, 45, worships with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Kurmin Wali.

“We were in the church that morning when we heard pandemonium from the village,” he said.

“Before we rushed out, Fulani had circled our church,” he said.

“Most people escaped. I did too. But I returned because my mother, wife and three children were among those that they had captured. So I returned and joined them,” he said.

“We thank God that we survived the ordeal, because we men were always being brutally beaten by the Fulani.” he said.

He said that their women were not molested, but that they all experienced starvation, until they were freed after 19 days of captivity.

Life In Kidnappers’ Camp

“We suffered in a manner that I cannot describe,” said Ezekiel Na Allah, 37.

“They hardly fed us, but were constantly beating us – then men. Each time they brought their badly prepared cornmeal, they made us stretch our shirts and they would drop it on our shirts. And times it was just a give you in your two palms,” he said.

“We had to eat wild leaves to augment the food. It was a miracle that no child or anyone died,” he said.

Asked if where they were camped was around Rijana, he said: “It was around the Rijana area, because the Fulani were always going there to buy groceries.

“I don’t believe that they released us out of sympathy, or because they repented,” he added.

Luka Binniyat writes on Conflict and Politics for TruthNigeria with Mike James Odeh, an International Award winning correspondent on Conflict reportage.