The Nigeria Police Force (NPF), have confirmed that a group of worshippers was kidnapped from three churches in a remote part of northern Kaduna state. The confirmation comes after the police previously denied report of any abductions.
Local sources say that over 150 worshippers had been abducted in attacks on three churches – two which are part of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, and one from the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), but that 11 later escaped.
On Tuesday, Police spokesperson CSP Benjamin Hundeyin said that an earlier statement denying the attack had been “widely misinterpreted.”
According to the police spokesperson, the earlier statement was “not a denial of the incident but a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected.”
He did not give any numbers but said subsequent checks by operational units and intelligence sources had confirmed the abduction.
The police spokesperson said security forces had been fully deployed to the area and that search-and-rescue operations and patrols were under way.
Amnesty International has criticised Nigeria over what it described as “the desperate denial” of the kidnapping.
The rights group said: “Authorities must also take immediate and concrete measures to prevent rampant abductions that are gradually becoming the norm in Nigeria.”
