Tension As Kidnappers K!ll Pastor, Abduct Church Members In Kogi

Suspected kidnappers have gone on rampage, k!lling a Nigerian cleric, Pastor Moses Wada and abducting several church members in Kogi State.

It was gathered that Moses, an accountant with the Kogi State Agricultural Development Project (ADP) and Assistant pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre in Anyigba, Kogi, was shot d3ad by the kidnappers while returning from Enugu State on December 7, 2025.  
 
According to one Justice Friday, the deceased traveled to Nsukka a few days ago, alongside the presiding pastor of the same church, the pastor's wife, and sisters for a church program. 
 
On their way back to Anyigba after the program, they ran into kidnappers, who opened fire on their vehicle. 
 
Moses, who just defended his Masters thesis in the department of accounting, Kogi State University Anyigba, lost his life instantly while the senior pastor and others were whisked away by the kidnappers. 
 
He described Moses as a humble man, a loving husband to his wife and children.
 
“Kogi East Socio-political and Economic Forum will miss ayour contributions, support, and passion for good governance. Our consolation is always in the fact that God will reward you with eternal life, Amen. We pray that your soul find contentment in the achievements of your life, and rejoice in the embrace of your creator, Amen," Justice wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, December 9. 
 
Meanwhile, other friends, colleagues and family members have taken to Facebook to mourn the deceased. 
 
His neighbour, Omale Theophilius Ocholi, described the k!lling of Moses as a moral collapse and human tragedy. 
 
“Nigeria today feels like a long, unending night, one soaked in fear, grief, and helpless tears. Banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism have become recurring decimals in our national equation, multiplying daily sorrow and reducing human worth to nothing. The land groans, the people cry, yet answers remain distant,” he wrote. 
 
"Just as our State Governor recently lamented, openly acknowledging the frightening relocation of the operational leadership of bandits and terrorists into Kogi State, we have all witnessed an alarming escalation of destruction. Human lives are wasted with frightening ease. Property lies in ruins. Education, once the hope of the poor and the ladder of progress, now bleeds silently as schools close, teachers flee, and children abandon classrooms for fear of dying before learning how to live.
 
"History weighs heavily on our conscience. Allegations swirl, names are mentioned, fingers are pointed. From the allusions surrounding the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, to the seeming confirmations credited to the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, and the unguarded whispers naming powerful Nigerians, we are left in a fog of confusion. As a government and as a people, we seem stranded between outrage and paralysis. We ask ourselves daily: What is the truth, and what do we do with it?
 
"In the midst of this national tragedy lies the heartbreaking life story of Pastor Moses Wada, a story that now symbolizes the pain of countless Nigerian families. He was young. He was gentle. He was purposeful.
 
"A pastor from the Dunamis family; an accountant with the Kogi State ADP, Zone B, Anyigba; and an industrious son of Icheke Town in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State, the same soil that produced former Governor Ibrahim Idris. Moses Wada was a man of faith and figures, prayer and professionalism. A husband. A father. A citizen who believed in work, family, and God.
 
"Yet yesterday, on his return from Nsukka, just as he crossed into Kogi State, the land that should have welcomed him home received his blood instead. He, alongside his co-pastor, the co-pastor’s wife, and the co-pastor wife’s brother, was ambushed by kidnappers. Bullets answered his prayers. D3ath interrupted his dreams. 
 
"Pastor Moses Wada was shot d3ad, cut down by men who feast on human misery, men said not to belong to the nation whose soil they desecrate. As I write this, the co-pastor and his brother in-law are still held in the bush by the kidnappers, only the co-pastor's wife was released may be for the sake of negotiations.
 
"What explanation can soothe such cruelty? What justification gives birth to such raw wickedness?
 
"Today, a wife is widowed. Children are orphaned. A home is shattered. A community is plunged into mourning. And the nation adds yet another name to its endless obituary.
 
"We are told the government is responsible for our safety. But how long must citizens wait while graves multiply faster than policies? How long do we mourn while assurances replace action? When protection fails repeatedly, fear becomes permanent, and silence begins to feel like consent to slaughter.
 
"This pain provokes painful questions. If the state can no longer guarantee life, what options remain for the ordinary Nigerian whose only crime is travelling home? Who now bears responsibility for the welfare of Pastor Moses Wada’s wife and children? Who restores the future stolen in a flash of gunfire?
 
"This is not just a political failure. It is a moral collapse. It is a human tragedy. Nigeria must wake up. Lives are not expendable statistics. Citizens are not sacrificial offerings to insecurity. We all hold the right to live freely, safely, and with dignity in this country we call our own.
 
“The death of Pastor Moses Wada is not just one family’s loss; it is a mirror held up to the bleeding soul of Nigeria. And if this mirror does not move us to urgent, sincere action, then history will judge not only the k!llers, but our collective indifference. May his soul rest in peace. May Nigeria find its conscience again.”