Kaduna State’s Two-tiered Approach to Relieving Victims of Fulani Kidnappings 

By Mike Odeh James

KADUNA, Nigeria — What’s wrong with this picture?  On Oct. 20 a traumatized Muslim family took heart. On the same day, a traumatized Christian community nearby took it on the chin.

The difference was how the state’s highest decision maker offered relief  – and why. 

As Kaduna’s governor promised a freed Muslim family a home on October 20, the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) abducted six people, including a baby, in Kajuru County (Local Governance Area).

Governor Uba Sani visited Malam Ahmed Abubakar Zakka, his wife Nafisah and their daughter Fatima at a Kaduna State Government safe house, where they are recovering. Fulani terrorists had abducted the family from Millennium City in Chikun County. Shortly thereafter, their ransom video drew wide attention online.

Critical media scowled. As Militainment TV expressed it: “Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani visited the rescued family of Malam Ahmed Abubakar Zakka, his wife Nafisah, and their infant daughter Fatima on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, after they regained their freedom following nine days in captivity. 

• The Visit: Governor Sani met with the family at a Kaduna State Government safe house after they were discharged from the hospital.
• The Pledges: He promised to provide them with a new home, cover all medical expenses, and supply sustained psychosocial support.
• The Background: The family was abducted from their home in Millennium City, Chikun Local Government Area, on October 6 and released on October 15,

Catch the Context: Kaduna sits in Nigeria’s northwest, where the state’s mostly Muslim north meets its largely Christian south. Southern Kaduna is among the hardest-hit areas of a Middle Belt crisis that helped return Nigeria to Washington’s list of Countries of Particular Concern for religious freedom. A September report by Equipping the Persecuted (ETP), a U.S.-based humanitarian NGO, estimates one Christian is killed every 86 minutes across the region.

Meanwhile: Back in Kajuru

About 40 kilometers south, Kajuru County had a different week.

Early on October 20, Fulani terrorists raided Mission Maraban Kajuru and abducted five people: Samuel Danladi, 30; Ashlee Dogo, 25; a one-month-old baby girl; Yakubu Ishaku, 76; and Rebecca Yakubu, 37, according to Alipiri Ado, Chairman of the Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Kajuru County.

That afternoon, gunmen struck Angwan uku Ungwan Soro, kidnapping Fatima Raymond, 27, and beating her mother, Matina Raymond, 47.

The day before, seven people were kidnapped from Janwuriya. One has regained freedom, Ado said.

On October 16, attackers found villagers in their hiding places at Kutura Station and took five: Dogara Adams, 15; Jesse Makeri, 16; Joseph Jesse, 19; Ubaye Adams, 19; and Katsina Ali. Two days earlier, a young man was killed on his farm.

Altogether 18 people were abducted and one killed in a single week – none of whom got the honor of a governor’s visit, a safe house or a promise of housing.

“One Muslim family is kidnapped — Governor Uba Sani visits them with cameras and promises,” Kajuru’s Ado told TruthNigeria.

 “Scores of Christian families are kidnapped, tortured, raped, stripped of their lands and houses to pay ransom — Governor Uba Sani is silent. Mr. Governor, is justice now determined by religion? Is empathy now selective?” Ado went on to say. Survivors in Ado’s camp pay ransom themselves and return to burned homes or none at all.

In Kajuru, Ado said, the help that does arrive comes from ETP, TruthNigeria’s parent organization, which has done more for Christians there than the federal and state governments together.

“There is no week that ETP officers do not respond to our calls,” Ado said. “Our children have been rehabilitated, grants given to rape victims to start life all over again, medical bills paid, medicine bought for victims and school fees paid.

“No one in Kajuru begrudges the Zakka family their freedom or their care,” Ado went on to say. “Their grievance is with the standard. If a home, medical bills and counseling are what the state owes one family, why is the same debt not owed to displaced Christians?

“We are calling on the state government to come to the aid of Kajuru County and set up a fund which caters for and rehabilitates displaced persons,” Ado said.

The governor’s office has not publicly responded to Ado’s question.

Also on October 20, Sani warned politicians against politicizing insecurity ahead of the 2027 elections.

Yet his own visit was a political act. For Kajuru’s displaced, the question is not whether insecurity is political. It is whether the state’s compassion is too.

Mike Odeh James is a conflict reporter for TruthNigeria. 

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