By Mary Onyia
Senior United States officials visiting Nigeria have expressed fresh concern over the abduction of more than 170 Christian worshippers in Kaduna State, warning that the recurring attacks threaten religious freedom and deepen mistrust between citizens and the authorities meant to protect them.
Speaking in Abuja during a high-level U.S.–Nigeria Working Group meeting, U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Allison Hooker said recent progress in securing the release of abducted Christians was being overshadowed by new violence, particularly the January 18 kidnappings in Kaduna. She stressed that the attacks underscored the need for Nigeria to do more to guarantee the safety of Christian communities.
Hooker noted that while the Nigerian government had recently secured the release of 38 Christians abducted from a church in Kwara State and 265 taken from St. Mary’s Catholic School, the scale of the Kaduna incident was alarming. “We want to see an end to this type of violence,” she said, adding that the U.S. stood ready to work with Nigeria to protect Christians’ right to practise their faith freely and safely.
She urged Nigerian authorities to urgently secure the release of the abducted worshippers and to collaborate with local authorities and NGOs to support the victims’ families, saying that advancing religious freedom would also strengthen U.S.–Nigeria cooperation in trade, health, and counter-terrorism.
Responding, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu stated that the Tinubu administration had taken “deliberate and decisive steps” to confront insecurity, including intensified joint operations, expanded early-warning systems, and the establishment of a national database to track deaths and casualties resulting from violence.
Ribadu insisted that Nigeria’s protection of all citizens—Christians, Muslims, and others—was non-negotiable, describing religiously framed violence as an attack on the Nigerian state itself. He said investigations and prosecutions linked to attacks on religious communities had been intensified to ensure accountability.
The U.S. intervention comes amid public outrage over the Kaduna abductions, which authorities initially denied before later confirming. The reversal angered religious leaders, with the Christian Association of Nigeria accusing security agencies of eroding public trust, as fears over religious violence and state credibility continue to grow.