ABUJA, Nigeria — The apparent leader of a gang involved in a deadly 2023 church fire in Nigeria has been arrested.
Saidu Yakubu is said to have confessed to being the leader of the gang that burned the rectory of St. Raphael’s Catholic Church in Fadan Kamantan in Nigeria’s Kaduna State. Seminary student Stephen Na’aman Danladi was killed in that fire Sept. 7, 2023, according to the news services Christian Daily International and Morning Star News.
A police statement after Yakubu’s arrest and confession describes Yakubu as “the alleged mastermind and leader of the notorious kidnapping gang.”
A bishop told the news services that the gang had sought to kidnap a parish priest but were unable to gain entrance into the home. The gang then set fire to the rectory, killing Danladi. Parish priest Emmanuel Okolo and his assistant escaped.
Nigeria has led the world in the number of Christians kidnapped or killed for their faith. The country is No. 6 on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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