KANO, Nigeria – A survivor of a deadly church attack in Kano, northern Nigeria, has alleged that he was detained by police and later targeted again by armed assailants in what appears to be a coordinated campaign of religious persecution.
The man, Ebegbulem Chuks, who narrowly escaped a February 2023 armed assault on New Life for All Nation Church in Masu community, Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano State, in which three worshippers were killed during a Thursday night vigil, said he fled the scene bleeding and sought help at a nearby police station.
Instead of receiving medical attention, he was arrested by the police.
“To my surprise, I was detained even with blood on my body,” he recounted in an interview with local journalists in Kano on February 19, 2023.
“They said we Christians always cause trouble and that if I want to practise Christianity, I should move to the southern part of Nigeria.”
The man said police reluctantly took him to a nearby clinic for treatment before returning him to the station, where he was held for three days.
He was informed on the fourth day that he was suspected of being an armed robber and accused of “converting some unwilling Muslim youth to Christianity.”
“The police threatened to kill me unless I renounce my Christianity,” he said. “This was no-go area for them, and I told them I will never do that.”
Upon his eventual release, he said the threats against his life escalated.
His attackers, reportedly aware of his release, came to his home days later in a renewed attempt to abduct him.
“They came again to attack me at home, this time an attempt was made to abduct me, and God saved me again,” he said.
He fled on foot to a nearby village under cover of night, before eventually making his way to Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria.
WARNING: Click HERE to see GRAPHIC IMAGE of the injury of the youth evangelism leader who escaped.
The account, which has been corroborated by local sources and Chuks’s family members, raises serious questions about the conduct of local law enforcement in Kano and the extent to which religious minorities may be vulnerable to abuse both from extremist elements and from state actors.
No official response has been issued by Kano State Police Command as of the time of publication.
Nigeria’s constitution affirms the right to freedom of religion, but in practice, religious converts—especially from Islam to Christianity in the north—have often faced threats, violence, and institutional bias.
Civil rights organisations have long accused police forces in northern states of failing to protect vulnerable minorities, and in some cases, enabling persecution through complicity or neglect.
“I was devastated when I heard this,” the man said, reflecting on his treatment by police.
“They told me they cannot release me until they get full information about what happened and that I might be an armed robber who escaped from attack.”
As tensions simmer in northern Nigeria, the survivor’s story highlights the plight of many Christians living under pressure from both extremist elements and systemic indifference.
Additional reporting from local stringers in Kano.
