Security concerns across Plateau State have intensified following a deadly series of coordinated assaults that claimed at least five lives between Friday, August 28, and Saturday, August 29, 2026.
Among those killed was Pastor Hills Emmanuel, a Ghanaian-Nigerian cleric whose body was discovered hours after he and a fellow minister were ambushed along a major transit corridor.
The tragedy has sent shockwaves through religious communities and rural settlements in Plateau State, highlighting persistent security vulnerabilities along rural highways and surrounding villages.
Highway interception and abduction
On the afternoon of Friday, August 28, Pastor Hills Emmanuel—a former minister with Dunamis Church and founder of The Wonderful Grace of God Evangelical Ministry in Bokkos—was travelling from Jos to Bokkos.
He was accompanied by Pastor Gabriel Joseph Dipak of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) inside a commercial minivan carrying nine passengers.
According to witness accounts documented by conflict reporter Masara Kim, armed assailants set up an impromptu roadblock along the Barkin Ladi–Bokkos road, positioned less than a mile between existing military checkpoints.
The gunmen forcibly extracted the two clerics from the minivan while dispossessing the remaining passengers of their cash and mobile phones before releasing them.
Local police authorities later recovered the abandoned personal items at the scene.
Body recovered and ongoing search
Early on Saturday morning, August 29, search parties recovered the body of Pastor Emmanuel near the location where the abduction occurred.
Pastor Gabriel Joseph Dipak remains missing. His abductors have reportedly established contact with his family, though specific ransom or operational demands have not been officially disclosed.
Night of Violence Across Surrounding LGAs
The fatal ambush was part of a broader wave of violence that struck multiple local government areas within a 10- to 20-mile radius around 9:00 PM on Friday.
In Fang village within the Bachi District of Riyom Local Government Area, a woman was killed in a targeted village attack. Simultaneously, armed gunmen invaded Radura village in the Fann District of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, claiming the lives of two residents. In Mangu Local Government Area, another raid in Chakfem village left at least one person severely injured.
Calls for Enhanced Highway Security
Community leaders and religious bodies across Plateau State have expressed growing outrage over the proximity of the abduction to security posts, demanding swift intervention from law enforcement agencies to secure Pastor Dipak’s release and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Neither the Plateau State Police Command nor military task forces have issued a formal final briefing regarding the identity of the perpetrators as search-and-rescue operations continue in surrounding forests.
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