Dozens more Christians have been killed in a spate of pre-Easter attacks on communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt Plateau State.
Recent attacks by Islamist Fulani herdsmen, particularly in Bokkos County, prompted the state’s governor to claim that what was happening was ‘genocide’.
On April 8 Christian Daily International-Morning Star News (CDI-MSN) reported that more than 60 Christians had been killed in attacks the previous week. The following day another CDI-MSN report highlighted more killings.
In a broadcast statement, Plateau State governor Caleb Mutfwang said, ‘What has happened on the Plateau is not a clash between farmers and herders. Please hear me and hear me well: What has been happening is genocide and I want the international community to note it.’
One local pastor claimed that the neighbouring local government areas of Bokkos and Mangu had effectively been under siege for a year and a half. Almost every week a Christian is either killed on his farm or innocent Christians are attacked and either killed in their homes or kidnapped, he said.
Another pastor told CDI-MSN, ‘Many of these attacks result in mass burials. The sight of numerous corpses and the frequent need to conduct mass burials is something no minister wishes to experience, yet it has become our reality. Daily kidnappings, molestation and rape of Christian women, particularly in rural villages across north-central Nigeria, especially in Plateau state, have become disturbingly common.’
Nigerian partners of Release International, the Voice of Persecuted Christians, have carried out research in five local government areas of Plateau State since December. Their findings show that 136 communities have suffered attacks by Islamist Fulani militia; 79 of those being left completely deserted.
Release International’s partners interviewed a leader from the Bokkos area, who gave an eyewitness account. ‘What we are experiencing in Bokkos is so devastating,’ he said, in a report posted on YouTube.
Referring to one of the recent attacks, on Hurti village, he said, ‘The people of Hurti said the security [forces] came when the Fulani started the attack. They picked up some dead bodies and left—then immediately the Fulani came back and began to shoot again, killing and destroying the whole community.
‘They burned down the church, they burned down houses. They killed pastors, they killed people, they killed even women and children. I saw the corpses and I shed tears.’
Paul Robinson, Release International’s CEO, said, ‘These attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria are, as one pastor put it, “disturbingly common”. Our partners in Nigeria say the devastation is “no longer news”—that’s a sign of how common it has become.
‘But we should continue to be alarmed at the horrific toll on Christian communities in Nigeria’s middle belt: be it killings, destruction of churches, or the devastation that reduces those who have fled to living on camps for displaced people, unable to return to their homes and villages.
‘Do continue to pray for Nigeria’s suffering Christian communities. Pray for the grace to persevere—and the grace to forgive. Pray that God will bring their attackers to repentance before the lordship of Jesus Christ.’
