In Nigeria’s Middle Belt states, “these mass kidnappings are being targeted,” Kerfas said. “You have cases where a hundred Christians are marched into the forest and held there for months. You know, they’re forced to cough up ransom money that they don’t have, so they have to sell everything – [including] their farmland.”
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Christians hold placards as they march through the streets of Abuja during a prayer and penance for peace and security in Nigeria in Abuja on March 1, 2020. – The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria gathered the faithful as well as other Christians and other people to pray for safety and to denounce the barbaric killings of Christians by Boko Haram insurgents and the incessant cases of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria. (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
He continued, “They survive through this subsistence farming. Now you force them to sell the farmland on which they survive to pay ransom. So by the time you release them, where do they go back to? Nothing.’
In Nigeria, Open Doors states that 4,407 Christians were kidnapped in the north-central region between 2020 and 2025. Adjusted for relative population size, a Christian was 2.4 times more likely to be kidnapped than a Muslim, the organization claims.
Blyth said: “Kidnappers’ tactics include raids on churches and schools… priests and ministers are singled out because they represent high-value targets. Families and friends are often forced to sell land, livestock and property to meet kidnappers’ demands, and it can bankrupt families for generations,” she said.
Blythe warned of the “horrific dilemma” facing Christians: “Pay ransoms in the hope of saving lives, (knowing) that the payment may continue the attacks, or refuse and risk their loved ones being slaughtered – sometimes families and communities pay the ransom, but it does not result in the kidnapped person being released alive.”
A newsboy picks up a newspaper with an article about US President Donald Trump’s message to Nigeria over the treatment of Christians, at a newsstand in Ojuelegba, Lagos, Nigeria, November 2, 2025. (Sodiq Adelakun/Reuters)
International Christian Concern reported that a pastor kidnapped in north-central Nigeria last August, Pastor James Audu Issa, was held for several weeks and then killed – even though a ransom had been paid.
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He said, “The reason for these ransom demands is to weaken Christians economically. That is the way Christians look at it.”
The lawyer added that in April last year, a church, Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), said it had to pay 300 million naira ($205,000) in ransom to kidnappers for about 50 of their members kidnapped in Kaduna and Plateau State. Such payments place an unbearable financial burden on the church and the affected families.”
Funerals for about 27 Christians allegedly killed by Islamist Fulani tribesmen in Bindi Ta-hoss village, Nigeria on July 28, 2025 (Courtesy: Christian Solidarity International (CSI))
Kerfas added: “The Fulani militants are waging a jihad, and of course they have to finance that jihad. So the Christians who are kidnapped have to pay huge amounts of ransom.”
Christian communities form the majority in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. But the Fulani militants’ claimed aim of wiping out Christian communities through kidnapping makes their future desperate and bleak.
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Kerfas warned: “If you don’t pay the ransom, you will be killed. And sometimes even after you pay the ransom, you still get killed.”
