It was a sunny Sunday morning in Maikori, a small farming town in the south of Kaduna state, in Nigeria’s northwest region. Rev. Denis Sani, pastor of the Evangelical church Winning All as well as a leader of a 50-man civilian watch unit, was giving a sermon.
A few minutes before noon on June 5, Sani got the news he dreaded. A band of 200 armed terrorists had swarmed into nearby Dogon Noma town. That meant Maikori was next.
He dismissed the congregation of 400 worshippers.
He then mobilized his team at the northern entrance of the thickly forested town where the terrorists were expected to storm in on motorbikes….