Image of arrested kidnappers. Photo Source: BBC.
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Claim: An Instagram user claimed that four church members were arrested for kidnapping their pastor in Plateau State.
Verdict: Misleading! The incident happened in 2024, when four church members kidnapped two priests in Plateau State.
Full Text
The internet has been flooded with several claims since President Donald Trump threatened to deploy United States (US) military forces to address the alleged genocide of Christians in Nigeria.
Some of these claims try to amplify the opinion that genocidal attacks are also carried out on Muslim faithfuls.
Amidst this, an Instagram user, @Abis_fulani, on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, shared a video claiming that four Christians, who disguised themselves as Muslims, were arrested for kidnapping their pastor and demanding a ransom of $15,000 in Plateau State.
The Instagram user shared images of the four kidnappers and the abducted clergymen in his reactionary video while calling Trump’s attention to the illicit act.
“Donald Trump, your attention is needed in Nigeria. Four Christians who disguised themselves as Muslims to go and kidnap two of their pastors were arrested today, and the funny thing is that one of them is actually the treasurer of the church,” the Instagram user said.
The user further said that although Muslims were accused of insecurity in the country, the four people shown in the footage are Christians.
Similar videos have been shared on Facebook as seen here, here, and here.
As of Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, the video has garnered over 14,000 likes, 1,484 reposts, 2,030 shares, and 867 comments.
Due to the controversies surrounding the matter, DUBAWA decided to verify the authenticity of the post.
Verification
DUBAWA subjected keyframes from the video to a Google Reverse Image Search. We came across a similar image shared on Facebook in February 2024.
The post detailed that two priests of St. Vincent De Paul, Pankshin diocese, Plateau State, were abducted by four kidnappers who demanded N25million as ransom for their release. The kidnappers happened to be members of the church, and one of them is the church’s financial secretary.
DUBAWA also conducted a keyword search, which led us to credible media outlets reporting the story in 2024.
On Feb. 14, 2024, Punch newspaper reported the arrest of kidnappers allegedly involved in the abduction of two Catholic priests named Kenneth Kanwa and Jude Nwachukwu from St. Vincent de Paul Fier Parish, Pankshin in Plateau State.
The report mentioned that the kidnappers who demanded N25 million ransom to release the priests were members of the church. The Catholic Church Agency also reported similar developments in February 2024, confirming the release of the Catholic priest.
Other outlets published similar stories as seen here, here, and here.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s investigation reveals that the incident occurred in February 2024, and not recently as portrayed. The claimant’s post is, therefore, misleading.
