Christian Women Raped in Kaduna Forest Camps, U.S. Religious‑Freedom Advocate Says

Hudson Institute’s Nina Shea urges firm U.S. pressure as abducted Christian women describe repeated sexual violence by Fulani extremist gangs in Kaduna State.

KADUNA CITY, Nigeria — Nina Shea, a leading U.S. expert on global Christian persecution at the Hudson Institute, is condemning what she describes as systematic rape of rural Christian women by Fulani extremist gangs operating in forest camps south of Kaduna. Shea issued the warning after reviewing TruthNigeria’s interviews with abducted women who say they were seized near their farms, taken into camps around the notorious Rijana forest, and repeatedly raped — sometimes for hours — before being released. Survivors from Kajuru and Kachia counties say the assaults have continued for years while authorities fail to intervene.

Shea responded to a request from TruthNigeria after reading interviews of multiple women abducted by the Fulani ethnic gangs in Kaduna State. The victims say gangs have abducted women alone or in small groups 30 miles south of Kaduna city and repeatedly raped them with impunity. According to the recorded interviews, women have been held for days or weeks in forest camps near the infamous Rijana forest as recently as this summer.

“Systematic rape has been from time immemorial a brutal tactic of primitive war waging,” wrote to TruthNigeria in a text message. “In Nigeria, it is yet another example of a Fulani war currently targeting defenseless Christian communities while their government passively sits by watching. The government even denies the victims any meaningful means of self-defense despite the relentless onslaught,” Shea went on to say.

Recent Testimonies:

(TruthNigeria has changed the names of the three survivors quoted in this report to protect them from stigma, retaliation and further trauma.)

• Deborah Audu, 24, said the Fulani Terrorists took her to the camp on June 3 and raped her repeatedly before releasing her the following morning.

• Two women from Kujeni, in Kajuru County 20 miles south of Kaduna City, were abducted on the same day, June 20, 2026, and freed on Aug. 30. Two women from Kakau, in Kachia County, were seized in separate abductions in June and July. 

• In Kakau, a Christian farming community in Kachia County, women told TruthNigeria that armed Fulani Terrorists seized them near their farms and took them toward camps in the Rijana forest.

• Laraba Gajere, also kidnapped from Kujeni, was held in a separate Fulani camp run by a gang leader who raped her repeatedly.

• Ruth Maigari, 30, a farmer, said two armed men stopped her in the forest on July 23 while her husband paused to buy fertilizer. 

According to Ruth Maigari, “They forced me onto a motorcycle, one in front and the other behind, with me sandwiched between them,” she said. “The one at the back kept touching me and nudging me with the barrel of his gun.”

At the camp that evening, Maigari said, the men marched her past other captives into a hut and ordered her to undress, warning that they would kill her if she screamed.

“They took turns raping me for more than two hours, one after the other,” she said. “I passed out. Later they woke me up and continued.”

At dawn, she said, the men gave her 2,000 naira, less than $2, and directed her down a bush path to find a motorcycle home.

Mairo Daniel, a resident of Kakau, said sexual violence against abducted Christian women was widespread but that many victims remained silent because of stigma.

“Some of those raped could be divorced by their husbands if the husbands find out their wives were raped by terrorists in captivity,” Daniel said.

For the women from Kujeni and Kakau, the consequences extend beyond their physical injuries. Their accounts describe fear of retaliation, social stigma and the possibility that their communities may reject them because of crimes committed against them while they were under armed captivity.

“The cases you see here today are just the recent ones,” said Ali Ado Alipiri, a community leader and the chairman of the Kajuru Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Kajuru Local Government Area, Kaduna State.

 “Fulanis have been kidnapping and sexually assaulting females since 2016. That was when we started hearing of such cases.”

Alipiri said the rapes are aimed first and foremost at subjugating entire communities in areas where Fulani Terrorists operate. He said such crimes are widespread across Kajuru, Kachia and Chikun Local Government Areas (counties).

Alipiri said federal and Kaduna State authorities were aware of the allegations but had failed to take adequate action.

“Left helpless in the face of repeated raping raids such as these, the women suffer deep trauma, the men feel demoralized and defeated and village by village the church community is destroyed,” Shea observed in her text to TruthNigeria. 

“Rape, even mass, systematic rape, has been easy to overlook by the men ruling in Abuja and the men paid millions to lobby on the latter’s behalf in Washington. The Trump Administration must hold firm against this and the other abominations,” Shea added.

TruthNigeria’s calls to the Kaduna State Police Command’s public relations officer seeking comment were unanswered.

Mike Odeh James is an award-winning conflict reporter for TruthNigeria. 

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