Killed during worship: a peaceful pastor and a convert from Islam

A pastor and a convert from Islam have been killed in an Islamist attack during a worship service in Katsina State, Nigeria.

A peace-making pastor and a prominent convert from Islam have been murdered in an attack on a church in Yaribori, Katsina State, Nigeria.

On 7 July, Islamist militant gunmen burst into a worship service, and shot and killed Pastor Emmanuel Na’allah and his friend, teacher Samaila Gidan Taro, who had converted from Islam. A woman, reported to be the wife of a Pentecostal pastor, was abducted. All three were loved and respected leaders in the Christian community. 

“He never stopped speaking against violence”

“He was a fearless voice,” Musa Likita, a local farmer, told media. “He worked with Muslim youth and never stopped speaking against violence.”

Pastor Emmanuel Na’allah’s name is not well-known, but it is clear his life touched many others in the rural farming community of Kafur County in Katsina, a northern state which borders Niger. Pastor Emmanuel continued to serve even though he knew the dangers – having previously received death threats from Islamist radicals. “If I must die, let it be in the service of God and peace,” he had told his congregation. 

“He [Pastor Emmanuel] stood between them and us,” an eyewitness told Nigerian media. “They killed him without mercy and dragged a woman away.” It is understood the woman who was abducted is the wife of another local pastor.

Another eyewitness adds, “Reverend Na’allah stood before the pulpit and tried to reason with them. They shot him without hesitation.”

Convert from Islam targeted

During the attack, Samaila Gidan Taro was also targeted. The commitment both men showed to friendship in the peaceful, religiously-mixed Yaribori community had made them beloved figures. His conversion from Islam had caused a stir in the local community, and eyewitnesses report that the 15-20 gunmen were screaming “Death to infidels” when they entered the village.

“Those who knew Pastor Emmanuel Na’allah knew his work bringing Christians and Muslims together,” says John Samuel*, Open Doors’ legal adviser for sub-Saharan Africa. “He was the kind of leader who challenges extremist narratives of religious division. Emmanuel’s life speaks to the leadership of many Christian leaders of Nigeria and Africa. His murder is an attack on the very possibility of religious harmony.”

“Nigeria’s government must do everything in its power to protect Christian leaders working for peace and reconciliation in traumatised communities,” adds Jo Newhouse*, Open Doors’ analyst for sub-Saharan Africa.

Escalating violence

These murders and abduction are sadly increasingly common in Nigeria. Large-scale killings, targeting Christian communities, have devastated multiple states in Nigeria in 2025: more than 200 people were killed in Yelewata in June, while at least 113 people were killed in Bokkos and Bassa communities in Plateau State over Easter. In mid-July, gunmen killed more than 30 residents in Bindi, Plateau. 

Such large-scale attacks are merely the most visible. Attacks such as that in Yaribori occur daily, and so frequently that they do not often make headlines. It is clear that Christian communities are suffering a relentless onslaught, with government agencies, international bodies and official observers struggling to even document each incident. 

Nigeria is among the most dangerous places on earth to be Christian, at number seven on the World Watch List. If countries were ranked solely by violence, it would be number one: recent Open Doors research shows that more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than the rest of the world, combined.

Please pray and speak out

Believers in Yaribori need your prayers – and so do millions of other grieving, injured and vulnerable Christians in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

You can also use your voice to help stop the violence and start the healing. Add your voice today to the Arise Africa petition, calling for protection, justice and restoration for Christians and other religious minorities in sub-Saharan Africa.

*Name changed for security reasons