Bandits invaded a Nigerian church on Tuesday, November 18, killing three worshippers and Kidnapping over 30 others.
The bandits stormed the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke-Isegun, at Okeado Street, Eruku, Ekiti Council of Kwara State, North Central region, at about 6 p.m., when the worshippers were holding a service, which was being streamed live.
In a video of the incident that has gone viral, during the attack, the worshippers were noticed scampering to safety while others hid under the chairs as armed men shot sporadically. Some of the attackers were masked, while others were not.
One of the attackers was noticed carrying the bags of worshippers.
Pastor of the church, Lawrence Abiodun Bamidele, told journalists that the thanksgiving service was held for 18 persons kidnapped about two weeks ago and released.
Kwara State Police Commissioner, Adekimi Ojo, said that although three of the worshippers had been confirmed dead, the number of those kidnapped had yet to be ascertained.
Ojo also said the families of the abductees were being contacted just as the town leaders were conducting a head count.
According to the police chief, no arrest had been made.
“Three people had been confirmed dead. Two of the victims died immediately at the scene when the bandits opened fire inside the church during an evening programme. A third victim, who was evacuated to the hospital, later died on Wednesday afternoon,” the commissioner told Daily Trust newspaper.
A local leader, Sola Daniel, said the bandits took 27 people during the attack.
The Chairman of Ekiti Local Government, Awelewa Olawale, said his vigilante team arrived in Eruku immediately after the incident to join forces with the local vigilante network.
“Bandits shot two people dead inside the church and injured a third person, who was transported to the hospital. The victim later died in the hospital,” Olawale said.
The state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who visited the community on Wednesday, assured the people that every necessary step was being taken to keep them safe.
AbdulRazak commended President Bola Tinubu for the deployment of 900 additional troops and other security agencies in the state, describing their action as timely.
A statement by Rafiu Ajakaye, the governor’s media handler, said, “The governor has sought immediate deployment of more security operatives to support the existing security architecture in the area.
“He requested that this new measure be activated immediately. The governor wholly condemns the unconscionable attack, sympathises and identifies with the people of Eruku and environs, especially families and the CAC directly impacted by the condemnable attack of Tuesday.
“The state government will continue to support the security agencies to tackle these challenges and ensure the safety of lives and properties across the state.”
“We have indeed seen appreciable calm in many areas previously affected. We sincerely thank the President for this. We are confident that the additional troops will provide further deterrence, overall safety for our people, and permanent calm.”
Prior attack, abduction
The Eruku attack comes a day after about 26 students of Government Comprehensive Girls Secondary School in Maga, Danko Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, North West Nigeria, were abducted.
During the abduction in the early hours of Monday, the bandits shot and killed the school’s vice principal.
The attack also comes less than one month after US President Donald Trump said Christianity in Nigeria is facing an “existential threat” and redesignated it a “Country of Particular Concern” for violation of religious freedom. The president subsequently threatened military action against Nigeria.
A US lawmaker, Ted Cruz, had also introduced a bill in that country’s Senate seeking to protect Christians and other religious minorities from persecution in Nigeria.
Titled, “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025,” the proposed legislation seeks to enlist Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
The Republican lawmaker from Texas, in the bill introduced on September 9, wanted officials of the Nigerian government to be held accountable for facilitating Islamic jihadist violence or enforcing harsh blasphemy laws, which have led to the death and imprisonment of innocent citizens.
President Tinubu postpones foreign trip
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a statement by presidential media aide, Bayo Onanuga, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had postponed his scheduled trip to Johannesburg, South Africa and Luanda, Angola, as he awaited further security briefings on the kidnapped Kebbi schoolgirls and the attack on Christ Apostolic Church worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State.
President Tinubu was scheduled to leave Abuja to attend the 20th G20 Summit of leaders in South Africa and thereafter proceed to Luanda to attend the 7th AU-EU Summit.
That same day (Wednesday), the Nigerian leader dispatched his deputy, Kashim Shettima, to the town where the students were abducted.
The statement added, “In response to the request by the governor of Kwara State, President Tinubu has ordered the deployment of more security men to Eruku and the entire Ekiti Local Government Area of the state, and directed the police to go after the bandits who attacked worshippers.
“Disturbed by the security breaches in Kebbi State and Monday’s attack by bandits against worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church, Eruku, President Tinubu decided to suspend his departure.
“He now awaits reports from Vice President Kashim Shettima, who paid a sympathy visit to Kebbi on his behalf, as well as reports from the police and the Department of State Services regarding the attack in Kwara.
“President Tinubu reiterates his directive to the security agencies to do everything possible to rescue the 24 schoolgirls, abducted by the bandits and bring the girls back home, safe.”
Killings in Nigerian churches
In June 2022, suspected terrorists invaded the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, South West Nigeria, killing over 40 worshippers, including children.
On the Christmas day of 2011, terrorists bombed the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, North central Nigeria, killing many.
Open Doors’ annual report mirrors persecution in 50 countries of the world in the previous year.
A Christian watchdog, Open Doors USA, in a report earlier in the year, ranked Nigeria sixth out of 50 countries in its 2024 World Watch list, where it is difficult to follow Jesus Christ.
That year, it said a conservative estimate of 4,998 Christians was killed worldwide in 2023. It also said 14,766 churches and Christian properties were attacked, while 295,120 Christians were displaced and 4,125 others detained across the world in the same year.
Open Doors said the number of Christians beaten or threatened increased from 29,411 reported cases to 42,849, while attacks on homes rose from 4,547 to 21,431.
A report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), in 2023, said no fewer than 700 Christians were killed in Nigeria in May of that year.
The group said Plateau State in the North Central region of the country witnessed the bloodiest killings, especially in the Mangu area. It said that about 300 Christians were slaughtered in three days between May 15 and 17 in the state.
In April 2025, the Catholic-inspired human rights organisation, in a report, said more than 20,000 Christians were brutally killed over the past decade across South East Nigeria.
The report accuses various jihadist factions, such as Fulani bandits, Muslim vigilantes and jihadist herdsmen, Niger Delta militants, and even Nigerian military forces of carrying out the killings, largely targeting Christian and ethnic communities in the region.
In March this year, the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa recommended sanctions on Nigeria in response to the alleged endless killings of Christians in the country.
The recommendation was sequel to a congressional hearing, where the lawmakers frowned at the Nigerian government for failing to protect Christian communities from increasing violence.
They referred to the report of the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa released in 2024, which said Nigeria accounted for 90 per cent of Christians killed worldwide every year.
According to the report, a total of 55,910 people were killed between October 2019 and September 2023, while 21,000 others were abducted by terrorist groups operating in the region.
Chris Smith, the committee chair, referred to the testimony of Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, Benue State, North Central Nigeria.
In November 2022, 15 members of the British Parliament condemned the growing persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
The parliamentarians, who spoke in support of a petition by Catholic Charity, asked the Nigerian government and lawmakers to take action in bringing to justice terrorists and other criminals attacking and killing Christians in the Middle Belt and North East regions of the West African country.
The MPs are Patrick Grady, Brendan O’ Hara, Cat Smith, Jim Shannon, Tommy Sheppard, Marie Rimmer, Julian Lewis, David Linden, Chris Green, and Sammy Wilson.
The members of the House of Lords in support of the petition are Lord Singh of Wimbledon, Lord Selkirk of Douglas, Lord Hylton, Bishop Cocksworth of Coventry, and Lord Alton of Liverpool.
Earlier in June 2020, some parliamentarians under the aegis of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion and Belief (APPG), alleged that the Nigerian government was allowing armed Islamist groups to kill, maim, and displace Christians, through a systematic cleansing.
The report, titled “Nigeria – Unfolding Genocide?”, painted a picture of an ongoing religious/ethnic cleansing in Nigeria, with the government doing almost nothing to end it.
It said the cleansing was particularly targeted at northern Christians.
In April 2023, a member of the British Parliament, Nick Fletcher, warned against moves to obliterate the influence of Christianity from the country’s history.
