{"id":193643,"date":"2026-02-05T12:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity"},"modified":"2026-02-05T13:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:49:23","slug":"kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity","title":{"rendered":"Kaduna church kidnap victims freed after weeks in captivity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Worshippers abducted from churches in Kurmin Wali community, Kufana axis of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have regained their freedom after weeks in captivity.<\/p>\n<p>The victims were kidnapped on January 18, 2026, while attending church service, when gunmen stormed the community and whisked away scores of worshippers into the forest.<\/p>\n<p>At least 177 people were reportedly taken during the attack, sparking widespread outrage and concern across the state.<\/p>\n<p>Reports indicated that the victims were released lat Wednesday night, after heavy-duty vehicles were seen entering and leaving a forest around Maro town between 11p.m and 2am.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report by Daily Trust, community leaders said the abducted persons were brought out of the forest in the early hours of Friday, although it remains unclear who facilitated their release or whether any ransom was paid.<\/p>\n<p>Confirming the development, the village head of Kurmin Wali, Ishaku Dan\u2019azumi, said the freed victims, including children, women and adults, were currently in government custody.<\/p>\n<p>A security source also confirmed the release.<\/p>\n<p>The victims were reportedly taken to Government House in Kaduna for debriefing.<\/p>\n<p>Kaduna State Government has yet to issue an official statement as of the time of filing this report.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Worshippers abducted from churches in Kurmin Wali community, Kufana axis of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have regained their freedom after weeks in captivity. The victims were kidnapped on January 18, 2026, while attending church service, when gunmen stormed the community and whisked away scores of worshippers into the forest. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":193641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-193643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kaduna church kidnap victims freed after weeks in captivity - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Worshippers abducted from churches in Kurmin Wali community, Kufana axis of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kaduna church kidnap victims freed after weeks in captivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Worshippers abducted from churches in Kurmin Wali community, Kufana axis of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-05T11:45:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-05T12:49:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770295701.867131.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kaduna church kidnap victims freed after weeks in captivity\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-05T11:45:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-05T12:49:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity\"},\"wordCount\":218,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1770295701.867131.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kaduna-church-kidnap-victims-freed-after-weeks-in-captivity\",\"name\":\"Kaduna church kidnap victims freed after weeks in captivity - 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