Nearly 50 Christians Killed in Attacks in Nigeria; Dozens of wounded, displaced people • Bible writers

BENUE, Nigeria (BP) — Nearly 50 Christians were killed and dozens more injured and displaced in a series of militant attacks on villages in Benue, Plateau and Kaduna states in late April and early May, according to news reports.

Fulani militants killed six Christians in southern Kaduna on May 5, followed by 28 Christians in Benue from April 20 to 22 and 12 Christians in Plateau on April 19, a series of reports by Christian Daily International/Morning said Star News (CDI/Morning Star) on May 1-7, citing eyewitnesses and government officials.

In a separate attack on April 23 in Kaduna, bandits not identified as Fulani killed Pastor Manasseh Ibrahim. The pastor of Winning All Evangelical Church was shot dead on Birnin Gwari-Kaduna Highway, the Birnin Gwari chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria said in a press statement.

Several farming communities in Benue have been deserted due to the escalating attacks, the Daily Post reported on April 20.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in its 2024 annual report, called on the U.S. State Department to add Nigeria to the list of 12 Countries of Particular Concern, indicating “particularly serious” violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act ( IRFA) of 1998, which are also “systemic, ongoing and egregious.”

Benue, Plateau and Kaduna are among the six states where violence was most widespread in 2023, USCIRF said in its report.

In the latest attack, Fulani militants armed with guns, machetes and clubs raided the predominantly Christian village of Ambe in southern Kaduna around midnight while residents were sleeping, killing six and wounding eight, CDI/Morning Star said, referring to villager Zachariah Sanga and National Daniel Amos, Member of the Nigerian Assembly.

In at least three attacks from April 20 to 22 in Gwer West Local Government Area of ​​Benue, Fulani militants ambushed and killed six Christians while they were attending the funeral of a Christian in Mbabwande village on April 20; At around 11pm on April 21, 14 Christians were killed in Gyaluwa village and others were killed in a Christian community along Naka/Adoka Road on April 22, Gwer West Local Government Council chairman Henry Agba told CDI/Morning Star.

“So far, Christian villagers have recovered the 28 bodies of Christians killed in these attacks,” CDI/Morning Star quoted Agba as saying. “In addition, dozens of other Christians were injured and are currently being treated in some hospitals.”

Fulani militants also abducted several people in the Gwer area, including the six-member Christian family of Matthew Chile, as they drove along the Naka Highway on April 30. The kidnappers released her on May 5 after Chile’s relatives paid a ransom of perhaps 50 million naira ($36,150). a spokesman for Chile’s employer, Benue State University, told CDI/Morning Star.

In an attack on April 19 in Plateau, Fulani militants attacked the farming community of Tilengpan Pushit at 2 a.m., multiple sources told CDI/Morning Star.

“Most of the victims are women and children who could not escape the invaders,” said villager Israel Bamshak.

Mangu Local Council Chairman Markus Artu, Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang and villagers Monday Mwansat and John Musa also confirmed the attacks, according to CDI/Morning Star.

“Twelve members of our community were killed,” Musa said. “We have become targets of attacks by Fulani herdsmen for no good reason.”

USCIRF, in a June 2023 report on ethnonationalism and religious freedom in Nigeria, named militant Fulani herdsmen among “a variety of armed actors who commit violence with devastating impacts on religious freedom.”

“This is particularly true in north-central Nigeria, where ethnonationalist fighters affiliated with the predominantly Muslim Fulani community attack vulnerable Christian civilians with impunity,” USCIRF said.

USCIRF also cited ethnonationalist fighters affiliated with the predominantly Christian Igbo community in southeastern Nigeria, saying the militants had “at times targeted Muslim civilians as part of their secession campaign.”

The militants are involved in attacks on Muslim and Christian worshipers, USCIRF said in the 2023 edition update.

Nigeria remains the deadliest place for Christians: From October 2022 to September 2023, 4,118 Christians were murdered there because of their faith, the persecution organization Open Doors reported in its 2024 World Watch List.

USCIRF has advocated for the State Department to designate Nigeria as a CPC, which would subject the country to targeted sanctions and other impacts on policy changes and religious freedom protections there.

(EDITOR’S NOTE —Diana Chandler is senior writer at Baptist Press.)