At least 166 worshippers were abducted on Sunday after gunmen attacked three churches in Kurmin Wali village, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Amnesty International Nigeria has said.
In a statement issued on Monday, the rights group said the victims, who include minors and pregnant women, were taken during church services on January 18, 2026. Amnesty International called on Nigerian authorities to ensure the abducted worshippers are “safely and securely rescued and reunited with their families.”
“The Nigerian authorities must ensure that all the 166 people abducted from three churches at Kurmin Wali village of Kajuru Local Government Area in northern Nigeria are safely and securely rescued and reunited with their families,” the organisation said.
According to Amnesty International, residents and relatives of the victims reported that the attackers stormed the village and moved from one church to another, forcibly dragging worshippers away. The organisation described the incident as “appalling,” noting that armed groups continue to operate freely in parts of rural northern Nigeria.
“The incident, which took place during worship, demonstrates once again the utter failure of Nigerian authorities to end the endemic impunity of killings and abductions,” Amnesty International said.
The group also criticised what it described as the denial of the incident by the police and the Kaduna State Government, condemning the response as “desperate.”
Amnesty International further argued that the mass abduction underscores what it called a lack of an effective security strategy by the Federal Government. “The latest mass abduction clearly shows that President Bola Tinubu and his government have no effective plan for ending years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen that have killed thousands of people,” the statement said.
It added that existing security measures “are clearly not working” and urged authorities to take “immediate and concrete measures” to curb rampant abductions, warning that such attacks are “gradually becoming the norm in Nigeria.”
