{"id":30954,"date":"2026-04-07T08:25:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=30954"},"modified":"2026-04-07T08:25:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:25:28","slug":"nigeria-christian-group-disputes-army-rescue-claim-in-kaduna-church-attack","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigeria-christian-group-disputes-army-rescue-claim-in-kaduna-church-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Christian group disputes army rescue claim in Kaduna church attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>A Nigerian Christian group on Monday disputed an assertion by the army that it had rescued 31 people who \u200bwere abducted by armed men in northern Kaduna state, saying \u200cthat the victims remained in captivity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Nigerian Army said on Sunday that troops had freed the civilians after gunmen stormed a church in Ariko village in Kaduna&#8217;s \u200bKachia district, while five people were found dead at the \u200bscene.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairperson for the northern region, Reverend \u2060John Joseph Hayab, denied any rescue had taken place.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Yes, the military \u200bare doing their best to get them back home, but it is \u200bnot fair for the military to claim that the victims have been rescued,&#8221; Hayab told <i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0by phone.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Now we have misinformation. When we are busy denying, we are \u200bjust giving the bandits the opportunity to strike and go freely,&#8221; \u200bhe added.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Kurtumi Unity Development Association, a local resident group in Ariko, also dismissed \u200cthe \u2060army&#8217;s assertion, saying it was &#8220;entirely false, misleading and does not reflect the current situation&#8221;.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Local resident and former Ariko village head Iliya Audu put the final death toll at seven, not five, and said the burials had \u200bbeen held on \u200bMonday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We are just \u2060returning from the burial of those killed. No single soul was rescued,&#8221; said Audu.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Nigerian Army and Defence Headquarters \u200bdid not respond to repeated requests for comment on \u200bMonday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>CAN \u2060has previously challenged official accounts of kidnappings, including last November when it disputed security forces&#8217; figures following the abduction of students from a Catholic school \u2060in \u200bNiger state.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Nigeria is under scrutiny from United States President \u200bDonald Trump who says that Christians are being persecuted, which the government denies.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30669,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-30954","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The Nigerian Army and Defence Headquarters \u200bdid not respond to repeated requests for comment on \u200bMonday.","published_date":"","news_description":"The Nigerian Army and Defence Headquarters \u200bdid not respond to repeated requests for comment on \u200bMonday.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30965,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30954\/revisions\/30965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=30954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}