Home Christian News Herdsmen Attacks Kill 37 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria

Herdsmen Attacks Kill 37 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria

Fulani militia on April 30 attacked Sopp village, Riyom County, wounding seven people while hundreds of people already displaced from Kak village in 2012 were forced to flee again from their camp for Internally Displaced Persons, Mandiks said.

Joshua Choji, a Christian receiving treatment at Vom Christian Hospital, told Mandiks that he and others went to clear farmlands when 50 Fulani herdsmen emerged from a nearby stream.

“All I can remember is that four of the herdsmen attacked me, while others also attacked other members of our community,” Choji told Mandiks. “We cried out for help, but none came for our rescue. I was battered on my head and also sustained a fracture on my left hand.”

Other Christians injured were John Makama, Danladi Dazam, Chuwang Kara, Alpha Yakubu, Daniel Danbwarang and Ibrahim Jatau, Mandiks said.

In predominantly Christian Baten village, Riyom County, herdsmen attacked on April 25 at about 8 p.m., said area resident Pam Choji.

“We had received information that Fulani militias would be coming to invade our village, Baten,” Choji said. “That made us intensify vigilance and, graciously, no one was hurt when the armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked us.”

Choji said the half-hour attack forced area residents to flee their homes.

In Wereng village, Riyom County, herdsmen attacked on April 15, killing six Christians and sending two others for hospital treatment, said Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, director of the Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria (ECCVN). He identified those slain as Chuwang Williams, 29; Bulus Danbom, 41; Peter Williams, 39; Dung Gyang, 60; Dachung Gara, 44; and Davou Dachung, 45. Injured were Davou Jatau and Gyang Jatau.

Residents in nearby Kuru village, Jos South County, said herdsmen attacked on April 9, killing eight Christians.

Nigeria was the country with the most Christians killed for their faith last year (November 2019-October 2020), at 3,530, up from 1,350 in 2019, according to Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List report. In overall violence, Nigeria was second only to Pakistan, and it trailed only China in the number of churches attacked or closed, 270, according to the list.

Nigeria led the world in number of kidnapped Christians last year with 990. In this year’s World Watch List list of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria broke into the top 10 for the first time, jumping to No. 9 from No. 12 the previous year.

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a recent report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.

The APPG report noted that tribal loyalties cannot be overlooked.

“In 2015, Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani, was elected president of Nigeria,” the group reported. “He has done virtually nothing to address the behavior of his fellow tribesmen in the Middle Belt and in the south of the country.”

The U.S. State Department on Dec. 7 added Nigeria to its list of Countries of Particular Concern for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.” Nigeria joined Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on the list.

In a more recent category of non-state actors, the State Department also designated ISWAP, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Greater Sahara, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, and the Taliban as “Entities of Particular Concern.”

On Dec. 10 the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, issued a statement calling for investigation into crimes against humanity in Nigeria.


This article originally appeared on MorningStarNews.org. If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit MorningStarNews.org for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.