The Rev. James Audu Issa, ECWA pastor in Ekati, Kwara state, Nigeria, was discovered lifeless on Oct. 2, 2025. (ECWA church, Ekati)
ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Each day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – Suspected Fulani criminals in western Nigeria kidnapped and killed a Christian pastor regardless of receiving 5 million naira ($3,125 USD) in ransom, sources stated.
The Rev. James Audu Issa of the Evangelical Church Profitable All (ECWA) within the Ekati space of Kwara state was discovered lifeless within the wilderness on Thursday (Oct. 2) after he was kidnapped from his house inside ECWA premises in Ekati city, Patigi County, on Aug. 28.
“The pastor was killed by Fulani bandits terrorizing Edu and Patigi Native Authorities Areas in Kwara state,” space resident Peter Kolo stated.
His captors initially had demanded an exorbitant sum of 100 million naira ($62,500 USD), Kolo stated.
“The distraught members of the family of the pastor and the Ekati group have been capable of negotiate the sum down to five million naira, which they paid in an effort to safe the pastor’s freedom,” he stated. “After accumulating the 5 million naira, the bandits exhibited excessive cruelty by demanding a further 45 million naira [$28,125]. Tragically, earlier than any additional negotiation might happen, Rev. James Audu Issa was killed by the Fulani bandits.”
The Rev. Romanus Ebeneokodi, spokesman of ECWA, issued a quick assertion concerning the killing.
“This innocent pastor has been reduce down, one amongst many, leaving his spouse, youngsters, prolonged household, church and pals in agony,” Ebeneokodi stated.
Ralph Madugu, editor of the ECWA’s In the present day’s Problem Journal, described the killing as one in every of many focused assaults on Christians and their pastors.
“But there are some authorities officers denying that there’s genocide towards Christians?” Madugu stated.
Numbering within the tens of millions throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise tons of of clans of many alternative lineages who don’t maintain extremist views, however some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the UK’s All-Social gathering Parliamentary Group for Worldwide Freedom or Perception (APPG) famous in a 2020 report.
“They undertake a comparable technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and exhibit a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian id,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have stated they imagine herdsmen assaults on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Center Belt are impressed by their want to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it tough for them to maintain their herds.
Nigeria remained among the many most harmful locations on earth for Christians, based on Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Record of the nations the place it’s most tough to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for his or her religion worldwide through the reporting interval, 3,100 (69 %) have been in Nigeria, based on the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence within the nation is already on the most doable below World Watch Record methodology,” the report acknowledged.
Within the nation’s North-Central zone, the place Christians are extra widespread than they’re within the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia assault farming communities, killing many tons of, Christians above all, based on the report. Jihadist teams similar to Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), amongst others, are additionally lively within the nation’s northern states, the place federal authorities management is scant and Christians and their communities proceed to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, based on the report. Abductions for ransom have elevated significantly in recent times.
The violence has unfold to southern states, and a brand new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged within the northwest, armed with superior weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL famous. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL record of the 50 nations the place it’s most tough to be a Christian.
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