KADUNA POLICE COMMAND DISMISS REPORTS OF ABDUCTED CHURCH WORSHIPPERS.

BY SANDRA KENNETH

The Kaduna State Police Command have dismissed reports that over one hundred worshippers were abducted during attacks on two churches in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state.

The state police command with the state government described the claims as false and misleading.

They made this clarification following reports that suspected bandits, on Sunday, stormed Cherubim and Seraphim Church 1 and Cherubim and Seraphim Church 2 in Kurmin Wali community, Kajuru LGA, and abducted worshippers during church services.

Recall that on Monday, the Chairman of the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. John Hayab, had said, he received a distress call from the CAN chairman in that area that an unspecified number of residents of Kurmin Wali in Kajuru LGA were abducted from Cherubim and Seraphim Church 1 and Cherubim and Seraphim Church 2.

According to him, the assailants stormed the churches while services were in progress, locked the gates, and forcefully marched worshippers into the bush.

He said 163 worshippers are still in the hands of the terrorists,” adding that eight of the abducted persons later escaped.

Describing the incident as part of a broader attempt to instill fear and provoke religious tension, the CAN leader said such efforts would not succeed.

“This is very sad news, but it will not change our resolve to work with government and security agencies to bring this evil to a stop,” he said.

“Those who have made it their plan to create fear in our members and provoke us have failed woefully.”

Hayab called on the Federal Government, the Kaduna State Government and security agencies to immediately intensify efforts to rescue the abducted worshippers.

However, the Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Muhammad Rabiu, dismissed the reported abduction as a falsehood.

Addressing journalists after the State Security Council meeting at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House on Monday, Rabiu said the report was being peddled by “conflict entrepreneurs” bent on causing chaos in the state.

He challenged those spreading the report to provide the names and other particulars of the alleged victims.

The police commissioner warned rumor mongers to desist from spreading unverified claims, threatening that the full weight of the law would be brought to bear on those attempting to derail the prevailing peace in Kaduna State.

Similarly, the Chairman of Kajuru Local Government Area, Dauda Madaki, said investigations carried out by the council and security agencies showed that no such attack occurred.

Madaki said he mobilised police officers and other security personnel to Kurmin Wali immediately after hearing about the alleged attack.