Latest: Two Christian Girls Die After Release From Kidnappers in Nigeria

Two Christian girls kidnapped in Nigeria in April died within days of their release, after nearly seven months in the hands of their captors. Silvia Samuel, who turned four while held in the bush, and Hasana Bulus, 13, were among five Christians freed on November 2. Hasana died the next day in a hospital in Kachia, and Silvia died shortly after, her small body worn out by hunger, sickness, and terror no child should ever face.

The two girls were among 11 Christians kidnapped by armed Fulani gunmen from Awon village in Kachia County, Kaduna state, on April 20. They were held in the bush for almost seven months. Area residents said the five who were freed on November 2 were released after the kidnappers received a ransom of three motorcycles and 2 million naira, about 1,482 dollars, for each person freed.

Silvia Samuel Hasana Bulus Awon village kidnapping

Silvia's story is the one that breaks the heart first. Her mother, Joy Samuel, was pregnant when she was kidnapped on April 20. After about 90 agonising days in captivity, Joy gave birth in the bush, with no help and in harsh conditions, and the newborn died. Just days later, her mother also died, leaving little Silvia completely alone in the hands of her captors.

For seven months, this little child saw things no child should ever see, area resident Reuben Buhari told Christian Daily International and Morning Star News. She endured hunger, sickness, terror, and loneliness no one could imagine. Silvia turned four while in captivity, and villagers feared she had also died until she was freed on November 2.

Hasana Bulus, 13, was kidnapped from her home in Awon village on the same day, April 20, alongside the others, and taken into the bush. For seven long months, this little girl was held captive in the bush, enduring pain and horrors no 13-year-old should ever have to see, let alone live through, Buhari said. Upon being freed on November 2, Hasana was taken to a hospital in Kachia. On November 3, just a day after tasting freedom, she died.

Christians who died in captivity in Kaduna Nigeria

Silvia and Hasana were not the only ones who did not come home alive. Among those who died in captivity were a child identified only as Devine, 14, Faith Kefas, 14, Rachel Bulus, 14, and Yusuf Bawa, 34, and his five-year-old son, according to area resident Ayuba Dabai. Amnesty International's Nigerian office noted the deaths in a press statement, recording that Joy Samuel died on August 28 after giving birth in a deplorable condition, and that Yusuf Bawa and his son died as a result of severe illness and hunger.

While in captivity, the abducted persons were always repeatedly threatened to be killed, starved, women and girls raped, beaten and dehumanized in so many ways, Amnesty stated. The statement added that the deaths and severe illness these people faced in captivity shows the atrocities they were subjected to.

The same pattern of attacks on Christian villages has continued in Kaduna state, where gunmen killed two Christians and seized 18 people, most of them women and children, in a night raid on Akwando village, as reported in Two Christians Killed, 18 Seized in Kaduna Raid Today. The Awon kidnapping and the Akwando raid are seperate attacks, months apart, but they tell the same story of villages living under threat.

Plateau State attacks November 8 five Christians killed

While the freed captives were dying in Kaduna, the killing went on in Plateau state. Fulani gunmen on Sunday, November 8, killed five Christians and wounded two others in attacks on two Christian villages in Barkin Ladi and Riyom counties, sources said. At about 5 p.m., 65-year-old Danladi Badung was killed at Gwol-Hoss village in Riyom, and at about 7 p.m., four others were killed at Bel in Sho District, Barkin Ladi.

Those slain in Bel were Emmanuel Pam Dachung, 15, Joseph Gyang, 28, Emmanuel Yohanna, 32, and a soldier who has not yet been identified, according to Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, an area attorney and community leader. Two others, Bala Kefas Dachung, 26, and Vivian Christopher, 26, were wounded. Vivian is in critical condition at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, where surgeons recovered six bullets during an operation.

International Christian Concern reported that no arrests had been made after either attack, and that residents accused the Nigerian Army of failing to apprehend any of the suspected attackers. The attacks add to a long record of violence against Christian farming communities in Plateau state, where villages in Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Riyom, and Mangu have repeatedly reported killings, destruction of property, and displacement.

Just days earlier, a pastor was among four people killed when gunmen attacked a market day in Benue state, as reported in Pastor Terungwa Tyonungo Killed in Benue Market Attack. Between November 3 and November 8 alone, attacks on Christian communities in Plateau and Benue states killed at least 11 people, according to field reporting from Nigeria.

Christians killed Nigeria 2026 Open Doors World Watch List

The numbers behind these names are staggering. More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025, according to Open Doors' 2026 World Watch List. Of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith during that period, 3,490, or 72 percent, were Nigerians, an increase from 3,100 the prior year. Nigeria ranked seventh on the list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in the Middle Belt are driven by a desire to forcefully take over Christians' lands, as desertification has made it harder to sustain herds. A six-year study by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa found that Islamic Fulani militias were responsible for far more civilian deaths than Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province combined.

The same terror that destroyed a church in Adamawa state and drove eight Christian communities from their homes, as reported in Boko Haram Destroys Church in Adamawa Nigeria Today, is still at work across the north and the Middle Belt. The names change from village to village, but the pattern does not.

Five people came home from Awon village on November 2, and within days two of them were gone. Vivian Christopher is still fighting for her life in a hospital in Jos, with six bullets taken from her body. No one has been arrested for the Plateau attacks, and no one has been arrested for the Awon kidnapping. The question that hangs over both villages now is the same one their families have asked for years: who will stop this, and when?

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.