Pastor Emmanuel and Scholastica Hills
NEW DELHI: The widow of a Christian pastor who was abducted and killed in Nigeria’s Plateau State on August 28 has recounted how Fulani Islamic terrorists taunted her as they dragged her husband and another pastor into a nearby bush.
Pastor Emmanuel Hills, a Ghanaian missionary and Senior Pastor of Wonderful Grace of God Ministry, was travelling from Jos to Bokkos with his wife, Pastor Gabriel Dipak and other passengers when armed Islamic terrorists intercepted their vehicle at about 9 p.m. on August 28. The attackers forced the vehicle to stop before searching the passengers and seizing their belongings.
According to Mrs Hills, the attackers singled out her husband and Pastor Dipak after recognising that the two men were Christian pastors. While the other passengers were robbed of their mobile phones, money and other valuables, the two pastors were taken away by the gunmen.
In a video circulated on social media on September 1, Mrs Hills said she pleaded with the attackers to release her husband and Pastor Dipak after they had taken the passengers’ possessions. Instead, she said, the Fulani terrorists told her they intended to abduct the two pastors.
She said the attackers spoke a language that enabled her to identify them as Fulani people and that they were carrying different guns and other weapons.
“As they were being dragged into the bush,” one of the attackers turned towards her and told her that she would never see her husband alive again.
The threat became reality the following morning. Pastor Hills’ body was discovered close to the location where the abduction had taken place, after the attackers had taken him and Pastor Dipak into the bush.
Pastor Hills was not only a missionary and senior pastor but also served as treasurer of the Bokkos chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). He was described by his widow as a dedicated servant of God and a respected leader within the Christian community in Bokkos.
The incident had earlier been reported by media, which stated that the gunmen intercepted the vehicle while Pastor Hills was travelling with his wife and other passengers from Jos to Bokkos. The attackers robbed the passengers before taking the two pastors away.
Mrs Hills said the killing had left her a widow and her five children without their father.
“My husband was a dedicated servant of God and a respected leader within the Christian community in Bokkos,” she said.
“We had five children, and now they have made me a widow and my children fatherless,” the grieving widow said.
The killing adds to concerns over attacks and abductions affecting Christian communities in Plateau State, Nigeria, in Africa, where armed groups have repeatedly targeted travellers and communities in areas affected by insecurity.
