Weeks after President Donald Trump urged Nigeria to enhance its protection of Christians, a troubling report has surfaced. Aid to the Church in Need announced that the Archdiocese of Kaduna reported the abduction of a priest amid a violent attack in Kushe Gugdu, located in Kaduna State’s Kagarko Local Government Area. This incident took place on a Monday, where Fr. Bobbo Paschal, the parish priest of St. Stephen Parish, was among those taken captive. Tragically, the brother of another priest, Fr. Anthony Yero, was killed in the raid, further highlighting the severity of the situation.
The organization expressed its alarm at the ongoing violence directed at Christian communities and clergy in Nigeria. They stated, “Nigeria remains in a state of acute crisis: the lack of security derives from a combination of criminality and intercommunal violence as well as organized terrorism and discrimination specifically targeting Christian communities.” This report paints a grim picture, noting the continued activity of armed extremist organizations, such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP), particularly in the northeast. Meanwhile, violence in the Middle Belt has intensified, with places of worship being destroyed and congregants murdered.
Rev. Fr. Christian Okewu Emmanuel, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Kaduna, confirmed the attack and the abduction. In a further display of disorder in Nigeria, reports surfaced that gunmen kidnapped 25 girls from a boarding school the same day. The raid resulted in the death of a staff member and has drawn significant media attention. According to police representative Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi, the assailants were armed with “sophisticated weapons.” A coordinated search and rescue operation is underway, aiming to locate the abducted students and apprehend those responsible for these heinous acts.
Organizations like Open Doors have revealed that at least 2,830 Christians were kidnapped in Nigeria in 2025 alone. This ongoing crisis is underscored by the decline in security and the rising tide of violence against Christians. In early November, President Trump remarked on the failures of the Nigerian government to protect its Christian population, threatening that the U.S. might consider intervention if such violence continued unchecked. Trump stated, “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
The alarming situation in Nigeria raises serious concerns not just about the safety of Christian communities, but also about the broader implications of a government unable or unwilling to protect its citizens. The events unfolding in this nation demand attention and action before the humanitarian crisis deepens further.
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