LIGARI, Nigeria — As villagers in northwestern Nigeria gathered for church service, gunmen on motorcycles stormed the area, firing indiscriminately and abducting at least 62 people, including the pastor and several children.
They were driven into the nearby bush and then forced to trek for two days to a hidden forest refuge. There, they said, they were held captive for nearly a month while relatives and villagers sold everything they had — farmland, livestock, motorcycles — to gather the ransom demanded for their freedom.
They got little food and sleep, were told to renounce Christianity, and saw two fellow hostages killed, four of the villagers who were eventually freed told The Associated Press in interviews at their church in the Ligari community, in Nigeria’s Kaduna state.
“I told my people even if they see my dead body, they should not deny Jesus and they should remain strong,” said the Rev. Micah Bulus, resident pastor of Kauna Baptist Church.
Since the attack last November, the community has experienced more violence, like much of the conflict-battered north. On Monday, gunmen abducted 25 schoolgirls and killed at least one staff member at a boarding school in Kebbi, another northwestern state.
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