Save Nigeria Group USA says attacks on Christians escalating; Condemns Niger State massacre
Save Nigeria Group USA (SNG USA) has strongly condemned the recent mass terrorist attack in Papari, Niger State, describing it as a deliberate massacre of civilians and a sign that Islamist groups are intensifying their campaign against Christian communities.
The attack occurred on Saturday, January 3, when heavily armed terrorists struck the Kasuwan Daji Market in Demo village, Borgu Local Government Area. Witnesses reported that the attackers emerged from forest enclaves linked to Kainji National Park.
“Credible reports confirm at least 42 civilians killed, with later figures indicating as many as 60 dead,” SNG USA said, noting that women and children were abducted and the market was looted and burned. The group added that some of the victims were children recently released from the November 2025 mass abduction of 315 students at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papari, who were tragically re-abducted.
In a press release on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, the group also highlighted previous attacks, including the vandalising of a local parish priest’s residence just days before, where religious property were damaged and the priest narrowly escaped harm.SNG USA warned that the Niger State attack is part of a broader, coordinated campaign against Christians in Nigeria.
Around January 1, militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked Christian villages in Adamawa State, burning over 50 homes, killing civilians, destroying a church, and issuing an ultimatum: “Convert to Islam or die.” The organisation said similar attacks have taken place across Plateau, Nasarawa, Kwara, Zamfara, and Niger States, marking a nationwide escalation widely viewed as retaliation for recent U.S.–Nigeria counterterrorism strikes.
The group further called for urgent action to protect vulnerable communities, particularly highlighting the ongoing plight of Mrs. Sarah Achi and her daughter, still held captive following the October 2025 kidnapping and subsequent killing of Anglican priest, Venerable Edwin Achi. “SNG USA demands the immediate release of Mrs. Sarah Achi and her daughter,” the group stressed, emphasising that the attacks are not random banditry but “organised, ideologically driven terror aimed at erasing Christian communities through killings, forced conversions, and mass displacement.”
While acknowledging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s condemnation of the Niger State attack, SNG USA stressed that statements alone would not stop the killings. The group warned that without decisive action, “more markets, churches, and families will be destroyed.”
They urged immediate, aggressive security operations to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries, including forest and national park hideouts, and called for international coordination with U.S. counterterrorism partners. They also advocated a “decisive policy shift to allow regulated arming and training of responsible Middle Belt adults for lawful community self-defence,” arguing that disarming civilians while terrorists operate with military weapons has proven fatal.
SNG USA pledged to continue exposing these crimes and pressing for action until the violence ends, warning that the right to life includes the right to self-defence when the state fails to protect its citizens.
