Bandits slaughtered Pastor Hills for attempting to escape – Survivor narrates harrowing experience

Pastor Gabriel Joseph Dipak, who was abducted by Fulani bandits on Friday, August 28, 2026, along with Pastor Emmanuel Hills, a Ghanaian-Nigerian cleric based in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, has narrated how the kidnappers slaughtered Hills after he attempted to escape.

Dipak, a pastor with the Christ Apostolic Church, was abducted along with Hills, a former Dunamis Church pastor and founder of The Wonderful Grace of God Evangelical Ministry, while they were travelling from Jos to Bokkos with other passengers. 

They ran into a roadblock mounted by Fulani militants along the Barkin Ladi-Bokkos Road.

According to Dipak, they were singled out and taken captive, while the other passengers, including Hills’ wife, were robbed and allowed to leave.

Dipak, who narrated the harrowing experience that led to Hills’ murder, said the Ghanaian-born pastor attempted to escape from the bandits, but they pursued him.

He said when they caught him, they stabbed him several times before pinning him down and slaughtering him in the same manner a goat is slaughtered.

Dipak, who made the revelation in a video interview with conflict journalist, Masara Kim Usman, also said the bandits told him he was lucky he was not a Berom or Mwaghavul man, as they would have killed him immediately.

“We were travelling from Jos to Bokkos that Friday after a programme. 

“Before then, I did not know Pastor Emmanuel Hills, but when we got talking and introduced ourselves, I realised he was also a man of God who was based in Bokkos,” Dipak said.

Continuing, he said:

“We were approaching an intersection that would lead to Bokkos at about 9 pm when we ran into a roadblock. We saw flashlights on the lonely road, and I knew they were not soldiers.

“As the driver tried to manoeuvre past the obstacles, four heavily armed men came out of the bush, shouting, ‘Allahu Akbar.’ We knew immediately that they were Fulani militants. They pointed guns and machetes at us, forcing the driver to stop.

“When the vehicle stopped, they commanded all the occupants to lie on the ground and began robbing us. When they realised that Pastor Hills and I were men of God, they singled us out and told the other passengers to get back into the vehicle. They then ordered the driver to go.

“They told us they were Fulani people and that we had been kidnapped. While we were marching towards the surrounding hills, Pastor Hills tried to escape, but they pursued him. 

“When he was caught, they began stabbing him. They then proceeded to slaughter him like you would slaughter a goat. He was killed within two minutes, and they even boasted and joked about how Hills struggled before he died.

“We trekked for several hours and arrived at their camp in the hills, where they tied my hands and told me they had been monitoring my movements from Jos and had received orders to kill me,” he said.

“They asked me my tribe, and when I told them, they said I was lucky I was not Mwaghavul or Berom, or else they would have slaughtered me without thinking twice.

“I was released the next evening after they called my wife and family members, who managed to arrange the ransom for my release,” Dipak said.