For Pastor Zacheous Habu Bu Ngwenche, time is running out. In the next two weeks he may find himself back in police detention if he does not produce a convert from Islam abducted from his house by Muslim militants in September.

The 31-year-old pastor of Foursquare Gospel Church in Akwanga, in central Nigeria's Nasarawa state, was arrested twice in September for harboring a Muslim who converted to Christianity. After the second arrest, he spent seven days in a cell in Lafia, the state capital.

One of Ngwenche's disciples, Adamu Bello, had gone to Bauchi state, in northern Nigeria where sharia (Islamic law) has been imposed, to proclaim Christ among Muslims. In the village of Bura, in Ningi Local Government Area, Bello preached to Bature Suleimanu Idi, a Muslim who in January gave his life to Christ. Sensing that Idi's life was in danger because of his decision to become a Christian, Bello sent him to Akwanga to take refuge with Ngwenche.

In August, Shiite Muslims in Akwanga discovered that Idi had converted to Christianity; they abducted him on September 10.

"Idi was abducted in front of my house and taken to a mosque belonging to the Shiite Islamic sect on Wamba road in Akwanga town," Ngwenche said. "I went and met the leaders of the Muslim community in this town to protest the abduction. But they claimed that I was holding Idi against his will and was teaching him Christianity without the consent of his relations."

The Muslim leaders reported the matter to the police, who arrested Ngwenche. Questioning both him and Idi, Ngwenche said, police discovered that Idi had decided to become a Christian without outside pressure.

But police said that the case was "very sensitive in view of the volatile nature of religious issues in Nigeria" and took Ngwenche and Idi to police headquarters in Lafia. In the criminal investigation department, the assistant police commissioner questioning them found only confirmation of what Akwanga police had discovered - that Idi's conversion was voluntary and uncoerced.