Africa’s most populous country deals with three attacks—two on Christian communities and one on a secondary school. The Nigerian president postpones a trip to South Africa and Angola to monitor the situation.
By Kielce Gussie
Just days after more than 20 school girls were kidnapped in the northwestern state Kebbi, another violent attack and kidnapping occurred in Nigeria. On the evening of 18 November, an armed group entered a Pentecostal church in the city of Eurku, in Ekiti State, killing two people.
A series of attacks
When a gang attacked the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School on 17 November, two of the students managed to escape and one made her way home, injured. Within 24 hours later, a violent attack took place on the community of Kushe Gugdu and a priest from the Archdiocese of Kaduna was taken hostage.
Nigeria steps up search for schoolgirls abducted in northwestern Kebbi
The next assault was on the Christ Apostolic Church in Oke Isegun in the Kwara State—a region that acts as a transit corridor between the north and south of Nigeria. An area with dense forests, dark roads, and limited police presence, it has been the focus for militias and criminals.
Images from security cameras inside the church have aided authorities in understanding how the attack evolved. The state police dubbed the attackers “bandits” and detemined that the attackers climbed over the fence and immediately began to open fire. The pastor instructed parishioners to take cover in a small room, which was then locked. Others hid behind the altar and some under the drapes.
Upon entering the church, the bandits—some masked—began collecting the purses left behind by the women as they fled. Later, they started “hunting” for hostages. A total of 35 people—young and old, men and women—were taken and dragged into the bush. As the attackers used tear gas, security forces were unable to enter the church until long after the ambush began.
A shootout at the end of the attack, when the bandits were trying to escape, left one man dead, while a second was found in the forest after police launched an investigation. Survivors recalled seeing some 100 bullet casings around the church floor.
Moving forward
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu postponed a scheduled trip to South Africa and Angola to receive security briefings and monitor developments in the states of Kebbi and Kwara. He is also reportedly working to reinforce security measures in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, where kidnapping has become a serious business.