Location of Kebbi state in Nigeria. (Himalayan Explorer based on work by Uwe Dedering, Creative Commons)
ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – One of two Christian workers kidnapped in northwest Nigeria on May 21 was freed this week, ministry leaders said.
Ojo John and Silvanus Abu of Nupe Missions, who were working among the predominantly Muslim Zabarmawa people of Kebbi state, were abducted from their mission station at about 10 p.m., said Moses Solomon of the Nigeria-based ministry. John, 33, also known as Mallam Yahaya, was released on Monday (May 26), Solomon said in a prayer notice that day.
“At exactly 8:09 a.m. today, we received a call from Sokoto state, it was Mallam Yahaya (Ojo John),” Solomon said. “He is alive and has been released, and is currently making his way to safety. This is the doing of the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes!”
Silvanus Abu, 26, is also known as Mallam Abu.
“While we rejoice with trembling hearts, we remain in urgent prayer for the safe return of Mallam Abu who is still in captivity,” Solomon said. “This partial release gives us hope that God, who began this great deliverance, will perfect it.”
Terms of John’s release were not disclosed. Both evangelists are native Nigerians, John from Kogi state and Abu from Niger state.
Solomon had sent a prayer notice on May 23 stating the two workers were last seen the night of May 21 after leaving a discipleship-making class at 10 p.m.
“After days of silence, we can now confirm they have been abducted by unknown persons,” he stated. “In the early hours of today, at 1:44 a.m., I, Moses Solomon, received a chilling call from the abductors who said: “Mallam Musa, listen very well, and I will not repeat myself again. Mallam Yahaya and Mallam Abu are not fine, and you should stop searching for them. If we hear of their search again, you will carry their dead bodies.”
John and Abu are both devoted young men have faithfully served with Nupe Missions, living sacrificially to bring the light of Christ to a people who have not known Him and disciple them, Solomon said.
“We stand undeterred,” he said in the May 23 statement. “Our hope is in the Lord who watches over His own. We believe in divine deliverance and call upon the global Body of Christ to raise prayers on your personal and corporate altars.”
The predominantly Muslim Zabarmawa people are among the largely unreached groups in northwest Nigeria.
“Declare Psalm 91 and Isaiah 43 over these precious brothers – pray for wisdom for all involved in their recovery,” Solomon said. “Pray for the softening of the captors’ hearts, and pray for divine protection and strength for the missionaries.”
Christians in northwest Nigeria have long faced persecution from Muslim terrorist groups, including Lakurawa and Fulani herdsmen.
The Zarma, known in Nigeria as Zarbarmawa, have a population of about 169,000 of which 93 percent are Muslims, according to the Joshua Project. About 3 percent of the population identifies as Christian and only 2 percent as evangelical.
Zarbarmawa Muslims mix traditional animism into their belief and practice, often taking part in rituals of spirit-possession, spirit worship, and magic, according to the Joshua Project.
“The cults are headed by priests who have been possessed by evil spirits,” it states. “The Zarma believe these priests have healing powers. The Zarma believe that there are several different types of spirits: those that bring illness or death; ghosts or ‘cold’ spirits; and those who control the forces of nature.”
Nigeria remained among the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, according to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for their faith worldwide during the reporting period, 3,100 (69 percent) were in Nigeria, according to the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible under World Watch List methodology,” the report stated.
In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to the report. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, according to the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL noted. 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 list of the 50 worst countries for Christians.
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- Location of Kebbi state in Nigeria. (Himalayan Explorer based on work by Uwe Dedering)
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