Four years after Catholic priest Father Stephen Ojapah survived an attempted jihadist execution and heard his captors describe the “extermination of Christians” as their mission, church leaders in Nigeria say the violence he encountered in 2022 has since escalated into one of the country’s deadliest recent waves of attacks against Christians. The federal government, however, continues to reject claims that Nigeria is experiencing a religiously motivated genocide.
On May 25, 2022, terrorists stormed the rectory of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Gidan Maikambo, Kafur County, Katsina State. Father Ojapah was forced to march roughly 45 miles through the bush over two days, without food or water, before being taken to a terrorist camp near the Kwiambana Game Reserve.
“The leader told us their group was Ansaru, a jihadist split from Boko Haram,” Ojapah recalled of his captivity.
He said his captors told him that they regarded the extermination of Christians as a religious mission. According to Ojapah, they explained that after a village had been attacked and burned three times, residents often stopped returning and the militants viewed that depopulation as a blessing.
When the terrorists decided that one captive should be executed as a warning to others, Ojapah volunteered.
“Because I knew they came for me, I said to them, ‘I would go,’” he recalled. “I stood up, looked at the others, told them goodbye, and blessed them.”
But as he reached the site where the execution was to take place, his captors began arguing among themselves and suddenly ordered him back.
Ojapah survived and eventually fled to exile in the United Kingdom. The ideology and strategy he says he encountered in that camp, an effort to drive Christians from parts of northern and central Nigeria have since been cited by church leaders and other observers as evidence of a continuing campaign of religious violence.
The Islamization Mission Continues
During a single week in late September 2026, terrorist attacks in Plateau, Benue and Kaduna states killed at least 41 Christians and resulted in more than 100 abductions, according to field data compiled by Gvoice.
Among those killed were an ordained pastor and a church worker who were ambushed and shot while traveling near Dorowa Babuje to lead a Sunday morning worship service.
That same weekend, armed militants reportedly attacked five predominantly Christian villages in Plateau State, killing at least 13 people. On September 25, three vigilantes were ambushed in Kassa community, while more than 20 hectares of farmland nearing harvest were destroyed in areas including Jol, Riyom and Gashish.
Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo reportedly buried nine members of his congregation over a single weekend. According to TruthNigeria, Dachomo had praised former U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations days earlier.
The reported attacks targeted churches and predominantly Christian communities rather than occurring solely as indiscriminate violence.
“The attackers carried automatic weapons and machetes and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ while attacking residents,” Manasseh Umishi, security secretary of Tombo Precinct and an eyewitness to a September 10 attack in Benue State, told Gvoice. That assault reportedly killed seven Christians and four police officers.
“I heard the attackers speaking Fulani language and chanting Allahu Akbar while shooting and macheting our people,” Umishi said.
Bulus Dabit, national president of the Mwaghavul Development Association, said the continuing attacks were creating persistent fear and suffering among residents.
“The continued attacks are causing endless pain and fear among residents,” Dabit told TruthNigeria. “It cannot be allowed to continue while officials promise relief that never arrives.”
