One year after militants abducted his wife and daughter, a displaced Christian pastor says Boko Haram has threatened to execute his wife and sell his young daughter into slavery unless he raises a ransom he cannot afford.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A displaced Christian pastor in northeastern Nigeria says Boko Haram, a violent extremist organization responsible for severe harm and human-rights abuses, has threatened to execute his wife and sell his young daughter into slavery unless he pays a ₦50 million ($33,500) ransom. The ultimatum comes one year after his wife, Mercy Yohanna, and daughter, Talita, were abducted during an attack on a high-risk transit route into Maiduguri, leaving the pastor facing what he describes as an impossible demand while living as a refugee himself.
“They told me to count her days, that if I cannot bring 50 million Naira, her head will be cut off—I am a homeless refugee who barely eats, but the jihadists have no mercy.”
— Pastor Simon Yohanna,
speaking exclusively to TruthNigeria.
“I told them I hardly eat—that finding even a daily meal is a struggle and I have nothing left in this world. I begged them on my knees. I said, ‘Please, I am a man of God. I have no money. My church is gone. My people are scattered. Spare my wife and my little girl.’ But they refused to listen. They told me that mercy is not in their dictionary and that if the money is not paid, I will only receive her corpse. They said her blood will be on my hands because I cannot pay,” Pastor Simon Yohanna told TruthNigeria
“They also said they will sell my daughter Talita into slavery if the ransom is not paid. My daughter is still a child. She is small. She used to call me ‘Daddy’ and run into my arms after church. Now they say they will sell her like an animal. I am already stripped of my home, my land, and my congregation after Boko Haram terror cells completely leveled my village church and drove my entire flock into exile. I am barely surviving in a makeshift. I have nothing.”
In a desperate, trembling bid to verify if his wife was still breathing after twelve agonizing months in terrorist stronghold, Pastor Simon pleaded to hear her voice. The terrorists granted a brief, chilling phone connection before dispatching a photographic proof of life—a terrifying image showing Mercy Yohanna emaciated, traumatized, and staring hopelessly into the lens under the looming threat of jihadist.
“When I heard her voice for those few seconds, she was so weak. She could barely speak. She said, ‘Husband, I am suffering. I am hungry. Please help us.’ Then the line went dead. The picture they sent shows her face thin. Her eyes are empty. I cannot sleep. I see her face every time I close my eyes. They will cut her head and sell my daughter if I do not bring the money I do not have,” Pastor Simon Yohanna said.
“Time is rapidly running out. As I cling to prayer, Boko Haram’s 50 million Naira demand hangs like an impending executioner’s blade over my wife’s head, and they threaten to sell my daughter into slavery. I have begged everyone I know. No one has that kind of money. I am a displaced pastor. My hands are empty. My heart is broken. I do not know what else to do.”
Similar tragic atrocities have been documented across the region by TruthNigeria, such as Nigerian Christian villages erased as Boko Haram levels churches and escalates mass abductions.
Terrorists executed a Nigerian pastor during an abduction, renewing global religious freedom concerns.
The agonizing psychological torture inflicted on kidnapped believers is captured in survivors’ testimonies, such as the harrowing account of escaping execution during a priest’s jihadist captivity that foretold Nigeria’s rising Christian death toll.
While some rare miraculous outcomes occur—such as when 6 Christian hostages walked free after weeks in a terrorists’ den—most displaced families without financial backings are left entirely helpless against bloodthirsty warlords.
The extortion and impending execution of Mercy Yohanna, along with the threat to sell Talita into slavery, reflect a calculated campaign against Christian leaders and their families in northeastern Nigeria Samuel Ishaya human rights lawyer told TruthNigeria. Over the past decade, Islamic extremist factions—including Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)—have deliberately hunted pastors, church officials, and Christian travelers for brutal assassinations or high-value kidnappings aimed at imposing impossible ransoms that bankrupt Christian families and break the spirit of local communities Samuel told TruthNigeria.
When impoverished local congregations fail to raise these astronomically high sums, captives face horrific executions, forced religious conversions, or perpetual sex slavery Reverend John Daniel told TruthNigeria. Human rights observers note that targeting the wives and children of spiritual leaders serves a sinister double purpose: tormenting the Christian community’s shepherd while systematically erasing any remaining indigenous Christian presence across Borno, Adamawa, and Plateau states.
Suleman Ayuba conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
