Human rights lawyer and former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has faulted the Kaduna State Police Command’s denial of the reported abduction of worshippers from churches in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state.
The activist questioned the motive behind what he described as an attempt by the police to suppress facts.
Odinkalu reacted on Tuesday via his verified X account after the police dismissed reports that dozens of worshippers were kidnapped during Sunday services in parts of Kaduna State.
The police had described the reports as false and capable of causing panic.
“I suspect the CP may fear that if he says truthfully what he saw, his paymasters in Abuja… will come for his job. But #FactsAreStubborn,” he added.
“The @policeNG alone know whose & what script they are acting out in claiming to deny the #MassAbduction last Sunday of the #Kajuru177,” Odinkalu wrote.
He alleged that the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Rabiu, may be under pressure to downplay the incident.
Odinkalu also shared video clips showing overturned chairs and disrupted church interiors, which he said were evidence from places of worship visited by security officials.
He maintained that survivors had been spoken to during the police visit to the affected communities.
The controversy followed earlier claims by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Northern Nigeria that armed men stormed churches in Kajuru on Sunday and abducted worshippers.
According to Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of CAN in the North, the attackers “came in numbers and blocked the entrance of the churches and forced the worshippers out into the bush.”
However, the Kaduna State Police Command, in a joint statement with local government authorities on Monday, dismissed the claims as “mere falsehood being peddled by conflict entrepreneurs who want to cause chaos.”
The chairman of Kajuru Local Government Area, Dauda Madaki, said security operatives were deployed to Kurmin Wali following the reports, but found no evidence of an attack. “I asked the village head, Mai Dan Zaria, and he said that there was no such attack,” Madaki said.
Police also quoted the state commissioner for internal security and home affairs as saying religious leaders who visited the area confirmed that the information circulated was false.
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