Abduction, murder of Nigerian Christian community leader happened in 2020, not 2025
- Published on November 19, 2025 at 14:07
- 3 min read
- By Oluseyi AWOJULUGBE, AFP Nigeria
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US President Donald Trump has designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” over what he calls the targeted killing of Christians by “radical Islamists”, a claim the Nigerian government rejects. In November 2025, posts widely shared on social media alleged that the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa state had been abducted and murdered by Fulani “terrorists”. But this is misleading: a news broadcast included in some of the posts dates back to January 2020, when the then-CAN chairman was killed. Police and state church authorities say no such incident has occurred more recently.
“Breaking! Adamawa CAN chairman has been beheaded by Fulani terrorist in Adamawa state, Nigeria,” reads a Facebook post shared more than 2,800 times since it was published on November 8, 2025.
Other posts on the topic include a news broadcast clip in which the presenter attributes the crime to extremists, Boko Haram.
The claim has also appeared in other posts, including here on X and Instagram.
Nigeria faces several security challenges. Its northeastern region is at the epicentre of a Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, which has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced more than two million since 2009, according to the United Nations (archived here).
In central Nigeria, majority-Muslim herders have repeatedly clashed with majority-Christian farmers. The conflict is frequently portrayed as inter-religious but generally stems from competition over land access.
Trump announced on October 31, 2025 that he was naming Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) -- a State Department designation for religious freedom violations -- over the killing of Christians by "radical Islamists" (archived here).
The Nigerian government has rejected claims that Christians in the country are being persecuted, saying that the US government is “fundamentally misinformed” about the security situation in the country (archived here).
The claim that the Adamawa state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria was recently abducted and killed is misleading.
2020 video
A check on the CAN website reveals the current chairman of its Adamawa state chapter is Joel Danjuma Manzo Manzo (archived here).
An internet search using the keywords “Adamawa+CAN+chairman+beheaded” led to an article published by UK-based human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide in January 2020 (archived here).
It described the abduction and death of Lawan Andimi, who was the reverend in charge of CAN in Adamawa at the time.
A reverse image search of the news clip in the other posts led to a video about the incident published on the verified YouTube channel of Nigerian broadcaster, TVC News (archived here).
According to the video’s description, Andimi’s abductors demanded a ransom of two million pounds sterling in exchange for his freedom. They rejected an offer significantly lower (equivalent to about 100,000 pounds at the time) and then killed Andimi.
A comparison of the 2020 news broadcast on YouTube matches the one circulated in the misleading posts in 2025.
A statement released by CAN rejecting the claim as false was published on Instagram by a media aide of Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri (archived here).
Adamawa police also released a statement denying the incident was recent (archived here).
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