Police in northern Nigeria say reports that worshippers were abducted on Sunday from churches in Kaduna state were false.
In a joint statement with local government officials on Monday, Kaduna state police commissioner Alhaji Muhammad Rabiu described the information as “mere falsehood which is being peddled by conflict entrepreneurs who want to cause chaos”.
Earlier, a local official in Kurmin Wali had told the BBC that gunmen had kidnapped dozens of people attending different churches.
There has been a series of mass kidnapping in Nigeria, where both Christians and Muslims have been targeted. Gangs frequently carry out such attacks to get ransom payments.
But referring to Sunday’s alleged abductions Kaduna’s police commissioner challenged “anyone to list the names of the kidnapped victims and other particulars”.
The chairman of Kajuru local government area, Dauda Madaki, said security forces were sent to Kurmin Wali after reports of an attack, but found “no evidence of the attack. I asked the village head, Mai Dan Zaria, and he said that there was no such attack.”
Police also quoted the state’s commissioner for internal security and home affairs saying religious leaders visited the area.
”They found out that what was pushed out to the public sphere was completely false,” he reportedly said.
However, a community leader in Kurmin Wali, Ishaku Dan’azumi Sarkin, had earlier told the BBC that armed men attacked the area on Sunday and kidnapped 177 people from three churches.
He said 11 people escaped, several others were injured, and no deaths were reported.
In November, more than 300 students and teachers were seized from a Catholic school. They were later released in two successive groups. It was among a spate of kidnappings that made international headlines.
Nigeria is facing numerous security challenges – including kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs, an Islamist insurgency in the north-east, separatist violence in the south-east, and a battle between herders and farmers in the centre over access to land and water.
Experts say corruption, poor intelligence sharing and underfunded local policing have hampered efforts to tackle the various crises.
Nigeria’s defence minister resigned last month at the height of the kidnapping crisis, officially for health reasons, according to the president’s office.
The US has recently become militarily involved in Nigeria – launching airstrikes on Christmas Day on two camps run by an Islamist militant group in north-western Nigeria.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump warned of more strikes if Christians continued to be killed in the West African nation.
There are more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, which is roughly divided into a mainly Muslim north, a largely Christian south, with intermingling in the middle – and the government says people of all faiths have been victims of attacks.
A Nigerian foreign ministry spokesman responded to Trump’s warning by saying that Nigeria would continue to engage constructively with partners such as the US.
”Nigeria remains committed to protecting all citizens, Christians and Muslims alike, without discrimination,” Alkasim Abdulkadir said.
