By Zakariya Musa, head of Media for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria
We give God the glory for the return of Mrs. Hannatu Iliya who was abducted three years ago from Takulashe village in Chibok Local Government Area, Borno State, Nigeria. According to church officials, she returned on April 1 and has reunited with her displaced husband, who found refuge in one of the Chibok communities. Iliya, who was pregnant, lost the baby in captivity.
Please pray… For peace in Nigeria and end to terrorist and insurgent violence.
In another development, a 14-year-old girl who missed her parents at the age of three to the insurgency was found in Kirawa in Gwoza Local Government Area. Her story was shared with the EYN leadership in an effort to trace her family. The girl now called Zara (not her real name), according to the International Red Cross could only recall that her father was a pastor who had a red Golf car. The church is prayerfully engaged in tracing her parents.
Three people were reported killed by Boko Haram terrorists around Wala village in Gwoza Local Government Area, Borno State. One of those killed was Adamu Daniel Toma, who was trapped on the way from Maiduguri to Adamawa State with his younger brother, a they traveled on a commercial bus. According to pastor Titus Yakubu, the body was brought to the church compound by some people who were able to identify the body, and was buried in Gwoza. The younger brother, who miraculously escaped, was assisted to continue the journey to Adamawa, where he met their mourning mother and other displaced relatives.
Experiences of Boko Haram/ lSWAP attacks on the Gwoza to Maiduguri road have eased in recent years, as many have surrendered, abandoning the forest to embrace peace.
This occurred on April 4, when another EYN pastor was gruesomely killed by unidentified gunmen at his residence at Madlau, in the DCC Biu church district in the Biu Local Government Area of Borno State. Pastor Yakubu S. Kwala was a 2020 graduate of EYN’s Kulp Theological Seminary. EYN president Joel S. Billi, who attended the burial, said of this yet-to-be-ordained evangelist, “We lost a young man who would work for the church for the next 30 years.” The president urged prayers for the traumatized wife, who could not make it to attend the burial rites held at Dzangola in Gombi Local Government Area.
The Dabna community in Hong Local Government Area was also re-attacked in series of attacks during the week, leaving three people dead and shops, cars, and some houses burnt in a farming area. The secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who is from the area, condemned the attack.
— Zakariya Musa is head of Media for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria).
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