According to a report by News Central TV, on November 13, 2025, Reverend Joseph Hayab, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has shared a deeply disturbing and tragic account of the murder of Reverend Victor Ney, a retired Nigerian Army soldier turned Baptist pastor.
Rev. Hayab’s testimony, given while discussing the long history of violence in the region, details the brutal manner in which the cleric was killed, emphasizing the horror and the subsequent challenge in identifying his remains.
Rev. Hayab recalled the timeline of the attack, which closely followed a religious service: “The night Reverend Victor, preached in my church, and the next day he was burnt to death.”
He noted that Reverend Victor Ney was a man of large stature who had dedicated years to military service before entering the ministry.
“Victor Ney served in the Nigerian army and retired before going to the seminary. You can imagine, he’s a very tall human being. He was the pastor of the Al-Hiri Baptist Church in Gwankara, the English section.”
The cleric described the devastating state of the body when it was recovered, likening the remains of the tall former soldier to that of an infant: “He would carry his corpse like that of a small baby.”
He then recounted the grim difficulty in confirming the identity of the charred remains, which was only achieved through a heartbreaking clue.
“And he was burnt to death. Because when people went out checking for his corpse, no one could identify his corpse. What makes… Our people know that that was his corpse, his son, who sewed his shoe near that small baby’s corpse and said, but this is my father’s shoe. Then they realized that, yeah, it’s the corpse of that man.”
Rev. Hayab concluded by stating that this is just one of many horrific stories stemming from the incessant violence in the North, acknowledging the tragedy and the community’s painful struggle to cope.
“So we have dozens of stories like this to tell. But this is life. It has happened.” View, More,
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