Christian World | Morning Star News reports a pastor's wife and toddler daughter abducted in Nigeria's Borno State in November 2025 remain captive; no other source has confirmed this

ACW | October 29, 2026 — Morning Star News reported on October 28, 2026 that the wife of a pastor in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, and her toddler daughter have been held since November 9, 2025, and that the pastor is appealing for government help.

According to the outlet, they were taken from a vehicle while travelling to a wedding in Maiduguri. The pastor told Morning Star News the captors are "Islamic terrorists" and that his wife was singled out because she is a Christian. The outlet names Boko Haram as the suspected captors.

The captors made contact via WhatsApp in September 2026. The initial demand was 50 million naira (about $37,200), reduced to 15 million and then 12 million naira (about $8,927), the report says. The pastor says the family cannot afford it and believes his wife and daughter are alive.

He told the outlet about 70 other Christians are held by the same captors; five were freed on October 19 after their families paid ransoms. A local council official confirmed the abduction and the reduced demand, and called the government's silence "deafening and painful." Morning Star News reports no response from Nigerian authorities.

Background: Morning Star News cites Open Doors' 2026 World Watch List, which says 3,490 of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith between October 2024 and September 2025 (72 percent) were in Nigeria. ACW earlier reported on death sentences for three men over the abduction of two priests in Nigeria.

Why it matters: According to Morning Star News, ransom kidnappings and jihadist activity have been rising in northern and, increasingly, southern Nigerian states.

This report has not yet been confirmed by other sources.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Morning Star News — Official Help Sought to Recover Pastor's Wife, Daughter in Nigeria

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