Nigerian captive freed—but crisis remains

Alice Loksha has been freed. Praise God! But her story is all too common in Nigeria.

Alice Loksha, a Christian and nurse who was abducted by Islamic militants in 2018, managed to escape her captors.

It’s a good ending to a massive crisis in Nigeria—and one that seems to have no sign of stopping: the kidnapping of women, children and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria.

And often, these victims’ Christian faith makes them even more susceptible to unspeakable human rights abuse.

Alice was taken in a deadly attack by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)—a group once part of Boko Haram, but now a rival terrorist group after a split in 2016.

She was working as a nurse with UNICEF at a displacement camp in northeast Nigeria when she was abducted. She was taken along with two other Nigerian midwives who were working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In a video ISWAP released, the terrorists said the two midwives were killed because “they were Muslims who ‘should have known the consequences of working for international agencies,’” reports Business Day Nigeria.

Alice was spared and forced into marriage “because she is Christian,” according to the video.

Reportedly, the 42-year-old nurse and mother was forced to marry two ISWAP commanders before she was able to escape. In Alice's first forced marriage, she gave birth to a son, who escaped alongside his mother.

A ‘delicate situation’

When Alice was taken in 2018, she was married and already a mother of two. According to news reports, a UN source in the region told AFP that “they were trying to resolve “complications” surrounding her future.

“‘We have a delicate situation in our hands because her husband had remarried after her kidnap, thinking she was already dead, and now here she is with another man’s child,” the source said.”
The reports also say that there are concerns about what kind of “stigma” Alice and her son will face from their family and community upon their return.
This is an all-too-familiar pattern in Nigeria. An Open Doors field partner and trauma care worker shares that “we sadly see many stories such as Alice's. There is a lot of shame and stigma around Christian women who were kidnapped and forced into marriage. When they finally escape or are released with their children, they do not just return to their previous lives. Not only do they sometimes face rejection from their husbands, but often their wider communities.”

A massive and growing problem

In the last decade—since the kidnapping of 276 girls in Chibok, which gained national headlines—Nigeria has seen more than 1,700 children abducted, according to Amnesty International. When these children are girls, many of them are forcibly married to their abductors. In the case of the Chibok girls, at least 20 women were reportedly forced into marriage to Boko Haram fighters.

Additionally, according to Open Doors research, Nigeria is the country with the largest number of faith-related kidnappings in the world. During the 2024 World Watch List reporting period, at least 3,300 people were kidnapped in Nigeria. Women who are abducted face death, slavery (sexual and physical) and forced marriage.

The effect of this threat on the church is difficult to overstate. Families, communities and churches are severely weakened when women and girls are kidnapped. And they are continually weakened even if the kidnapping victims escape or are freed, as the women who are forcibly married, pregnant, victims of sexual assault or mothers to the children of militants face shame and rejection at home.

This is what Alice now faces, a microcosm of a massive and ongoing problem. Fortunately, she will reportedly receive medical and psychosocial support—but the wounds will not disappear overnight.

“Alice and her children will need ongoing emotional, physical and spiritual support if she is to be integrated back into society,” says the Open Doors trauma care worker.

This ongoing abduction and sexual violence crisis against women are part of why Open Doors has joined with the church in sub-Saharan Africa to launch the multi-year Arise Africa campaign. The church is devastated by the ripple effects of these kidnappings; the impact reverberates long after victims return home. There is a desperate need for trauma care, biblical discipleship and emergency aid in Nigeria—and in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa where abduction, sexual assault and forced marriage are common tools of Islamic extremist groups.

please pray

In the meantime, we must all pray for the healing of Alice and the freedom of all remaining captives:
Join us in thanking God for the release of Alice Loksha. For many believers around the world, this has been a longstanding prayer point and a prayer answered.
Pray that Alice will find the support needed to reunite with her family. Pray that God's Spirit will be the mediator as she reunites with them.
Pray that she will experience healing in every aspect.
Pray also for Leah Sharibu and the still-missing Chibok girls who remain in captivity and will spend another Christmas in the hands of Boko Haram/ISWAP. May they experience God's presence and provision and, if He wills, a way to escape or be released still this year.

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