MY ACCOUNT
At A Glance:
- Armed criminals killed three and abducted 15 church members attending a May 23 prayer vigil in the southwest Nigerian village of Ekerin.
- Police officials strongly condemned the attack but the local government chairman ordered an indefinite suspension of evening prayer vigils.
- Here are five ways you can stand in prayer with your suffering brothers and sisters in Ekerin.
Christians have been ordered to not pray together after dark in the southwest Nigerian village of Ekerin after armed criminals killed three and abducted 15 church members attending a prayer vigil in their community.
“Faith cannot be practiced at the expense of life,” said the chairman of the local government when he ordered an indefinite suspension of evening prayer vigils. State police officials, however, strongly condemned the “barbaric, callous, and unacceptable” attack on innocent worshippers.
"We're grateful officials called this attack what it is – barbaric and callous. But our brothers and sisters in Ekerin didn't do anything wrong,” said Brian Orme, CEO of Global Christian Relief. “They gathered to pray. The response cannot be to restrict the very thing they were doing when the bullets started flying. It has to be to protect them while they keep doing it."
4 Mass-Kidnap Attacks
The assault happened Saturday, May 23, when gunmen stormed a Christian prayer gathering at the prayer ground in Ekerin village of Ekiti county, according to multiple news reports. Panicked members of the Ijo Ajaiye Ati Igbala church scattered in every direction when the attack began.
No group has claimed responsibility for the atrocity, which occurred in a forest corridor that has become an active transit zone for armed groups conducting kidnap-for-ransom operations.
While Nigeria’s Middle Belt area is receiving more news coverage of anti-Christian atrocities, such assaults in Kwara State in the country’s southern region have been under-reported. The area, however, has now produced four mass-kidnap attacks in five weeks. Rural Christian worship sites are being increasingly targeted.
Called the global epicenter of modern martyrdom, Nigeria continues to be one of the most dangerous environments for Christian communities in the world. In the two-year period ending on Oct. 31, 2025, Nigeria accounted for about 30% of all killings globally tied to religious violence, according to the GCR Red List.
5 Ways to Pray
- Ask God to grant wisdom to Ekiti county’s Christian leaders in knowing how to respond to the ban on evening prayer gatherings.
- Cry out for the Holy Spirit to be “near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18), bringing peace and comfort to grieving hearts.
- Pray that the Lord will be a stronghold in this time of trouble and that fear would not have the final word in any believer’s heart.
- Ask God to restrain those who seek to harm His people and to prevent violence from continuing to spill over from Nigeria’s Middle Belt into the South.
- Pray for government and regional leaders to act with integrity and urgency in bringing real accountability to the perpetrators of this atrocity.
An urgent window to act. They refuse to hide their faith. Let’s make sure they don't face the fire alone.
Millions of Nigerian believers currently are living in displacement camps, driven from their homes by targeted, violent attacks. Yet their joy and faith in Jesus remain unbroken. Make an eternal impact today by delivering urgent emergency aid, spiritual support, and bold advocacy so the Nigerian church can continue to shine in the darkness.
