Arewa Cycle

ZAGAZOLA CHECKS: Exploiting Kaduna Muslim Family’s Kidnap to Push Christian Persecution Narrative Is Misleading A kidnapping is a crime against its victims, not a licence to manufacture a religious narrative. The abduction of Ahmed Abubakar Zakka, his wife and their infant daughter from their residence in Alrahus Estate, Millennium City, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, is deeply troubling. The family deserves our solidarity, and the security agencies must do everything possible to secure their safe and unconditional release. But the attempt attributed to Ryan Miller to present this incident to American audiences as evidence of Christian persecution in Nigeria was very disturbing. The question is what does the religious identity of the victims have to do with a claim of Christian persecution when the family at the centre of this particular case is Muslim? Miller may have opinions about Nigeria’s security crisis, but opinions must not be substituted for evidence. A Muslim family cannot simply be repackaged as a symbol of Christian persecution to fit a predetermined narrative. Doing so distorts the reality on ground, misleads audiences and risks turning a family’s suffering into an instrument of propaganda in the international community. The video reportedly circulated on October 12 shows a father holding his young child while an armed man threatens him, as his wife pleads beside him. The reported ₦300 million ransom demand, this simply shared more light on the cruelty of the criminal enterprise of Banditry in Nigeria and added credences to the fact that no one is spared both the Muslims and Christians Nothing about this horrific ordeal should be trivialised, politicised or manipulated to serve an agenda unrelated to the victims’ actual circumstances. The question Ryan Miller must answer is straightforward: what evidence establishes that this particular abduction was motivated by the victims’ religion? If no such evidence has been presented, why is the incident being offered to American audiences as proof of Christian persecution? A criminal incident does not become religious persecution simply because it occurs in Nigeria. Nor does the suffering of a Muslim family become evidence for a claim about Christians merely because someone wants to use it that way. Nigeria’s security crisis is complex. It involves terrorism, banditry, mass kidnapping, communal violence and criminal networks whose activities have devastated populations in different parts of the country. Any serious assessment must distinguish between the perpetrators, their motives, the identities of their victims and the evidence available in each case. There is also a reality that international commentators too often overlook: Muslim communities in northern Nigeria have endured enormous losses from Boko Haram, ISWAP, banditry and mass abductions. Muslim worshippers, clerics, farmers, traders, schoolchildren and entire communities have suffered killings, displacement and captivity. Their suffering does not disappear because it complicates a simplified narrative about Nigeria. This does not diminish the genuine attacks and persecution that Christian communities also experience. Every documented case deserves acknowledgement and justice. Ryan Miller and other commentators must understand that Nigeria’s tragedy is not a licence to mislead the world. If they want to establish Christian persecution, they should present documented cases, identify the perpetrators, demonstrate the religious motive where evidence supports it, and distinguish those cases from ordinary criminal kidnappings or attacks driven by other factors. Our position is clear every Nigerian life matters, every victim deserves justice, and no community’s suffering should be manipulated to erase another’s. The Zakka family must be rescued. The kidnappers must face justice. And anyone claiming to speak for victims of persecution must be held to the same standard