MUSLIM HATE IN NIGERIA

Terrorists Slaughter 41 Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Many others kidnapped.
By Christian Daily International-Morning Star News

ABUJA, Nigeria, January 8, 2024 (Christian Daily International-Morning Star News) – Suspected Fulani terrorists on Wednesday (Jan. 3) killed 41 Christians and kidnapped many others in two counties of southern Kaduna state, Nigeria, sources said.

The assailants in the early morning attacked Dokan Karji, Ungwan Sako and Kunkurai villages in the Dawaki area of Kauru County and Gefe village in Kajuru County, area resident Sunday Isuwa said.

“The attacks in Kauru claimed the lives of 17 Christians, and those in Kajuru claimed the lives of 24 Christians,” Isuwa told Morning Star News in a text message.

Another resident, Samaila Musa, said in a text message, “The terrorists who were armed with deadly weapons invaded the communities, killing children, women, men and the elderly who were unable to escape from the attackers.”

The Rev. Joseph John Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State Chapter, said in a press statement on Friday (Jan. 5) that the attacks were “the handiwork of evil bandits and terrorists who have been attacking our communities without relenting.”

“We are appealing to the governor of Kaduna state and Nigeria’s security agencies not to relent but ensure that these evil-doers are brought to face the wrath of the laws of our country,” Hayab said.

Police confirmed the attacks and said officers were making efforts to curtail them.

A former Dawaki Ward council member, Aminu Khalid, told Nigerian news outlet Punch that the assailants entered the communities on foot and took up vantage positions.

“The terrorists always come from parts of Kajuru and Kachia forest, where their camp is,” Khalid told Punch. “The camp is situated at Dutsen Magunguna, in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state.”

The Nigerian military has raided the terrorist camp, but nearby communities never experience peace, he added.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2022, with 5,014, according to Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report. It also led the world in Christians abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted or harassed, forcibly married or physically or mentally abused, and it had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. As in the previous year, Nigeria had the second most church attacks and internally displaced people.

In the 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to sixth place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 7 the previous year.

“Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery,” the WWL report noted. “This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of the nation… Nigeria’s government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians’ rights are carried out with impunity.”

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 2020 report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP 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.

A Christmas Muslim Genocide in Nigeria

JAN 3, 2024 11:00 AM BY DANIEL GREENFIELD

4,500 Christians killed in 2023. 52,000 in over a decade

Muslims celebrated Christmas in Nigeria by massacring around 100 Christians across a dozen communities. The Jihadis hacked Christians to death with machetes and burned down churches  as part of a genocidal campaign that has killed 52,000 Christians in over a decade and forced millions to leave their home and become refugees in the African nation.
In America, not a single person marched, rallied or protested over this actual genocide.

The rampaging mobs crying that Hamas is suffering genocide remained silent. Black Lives Matter had nothing to say about it and neither did any of the politicians and social media influencers who spend all of their time pushing fake casualty numbers out of Gaza.

According to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a local NGO, over 4,500 Christians were killed this year in Nigeria. Unlike Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, this latest year of the ongoing Muslim genocide has resulted in no UN Security Council sessions or UN General Assembly votes. And the media has kept the killing off its front pages.

Every human rights organization that shouts “genocide” whenever a Hamas terrorist dies has yet to declare genocide over the killing of over 50,000 civilians by Muslim gangs aided and abetted by the Muslim rulers who have taken over Nigeria and waged war on Christians.

Earlier this year, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the ‘Godfather of Lagos’ educated in Chicago and once accused of ties to heroin trafficking, named “leader of warriors” by the Emir of Borgu, took power earlier this year, replacing the brutal regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, a former dictator backed by the Obama administration to usurp former Christian President Jonathan Goodluck.

Intersociety described the massacre of 700 Christians earlier this year as a “farewell gift” to outgoing President Muhamadu Buhari warning that 100 churches had been destroyed by Islamic Jihadists in just 60 days. Every time a terror mosque is bombed in Gaza, it’s in the headlines, but how is it possible that 100 churches being destroyed in mere months isn’t news?

Intersociety began its count of the over 50,000 murdered Christians in 2009. That’s no coincidence. As part of the ‘Arab Spring’, the Obama administration had set out to ‘flip’ Middle Eastern countries from secular to Islamic rule, but in a less well known move, had also begun flipping African countries from non-Muslim to Muslim rule, resulting in the massacre of Christians. There is more Christian blood on Obama’s hands than anyone in a long time.

The Obama administration staged a Muslim coup in Côte d’Ivoire leading to a civil war in which it indirectly intervened in favor of Alassane Ouattara who has remained in power since 2010. In Kenya, Obama backed efforts by his cousin, Raila Odinga, who like Obama claimed to be Christian, but had developed close ties to the country’s Islamic population and ran as their champion, to take power. And in Nigeria, Obama had pressured the government to stop fighting Islamic terrorism. The end result of these efforts was a horrifying wave of Boko Haram terror.

Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist group dedicated to enforcing Islamic law, amped up the violence while the Obama administration insisted that the Nigerian military should avoid going after the terrorists and instead pumped a fortune in foreign aid to deal with “social inequities”.

The money instead helped finance a genocidal wave of Islamic violence, much as it had in Gaza and Iran, but the Obama administration and its leftist allies went on lying about the genocide. The official position was that Muslims were killing Christians in response to oppression. If only they had better economic prospects and more political power, the violence would stop.

The Obama administration refused to add Boko Haram to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations which allowed the Jihadists to benefit from money coming out of the United States until mounting political pressure from Republicans forced it to do the right thing. But not until thousands had been killed while Obama officials falsely claimed that Boko Haram was not an Islamic terrorist group and that FTO designation would only alienate Nigerian Muslims.

In 2021, the New York Times published an op-ed claiming that, “there is no proof that a well-organized, ideologically coherent terrorist group called Boko Haram even exists today.” But by 2014, Boko Haram’s mass kidnapping of hundreds of Christian girls led to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. The efforts to deny that an Islamic terrorist group inspired, trained and financed by Al Qaeda, which had killed thousands, even existed, ended.

But the motives behind the lies that enabled the Christian genocide remained the same.

Obama got what he wanted with Muhammadu Buhari, but after two terms of the former Muslim dictator, the killing goes on. Boko Haram, an Al Qaeda ally, has gotten bogged down in fighting a local splinter group affiliated with ISIS, for the bragging rights to Christian genocide. And ordinary Fulani Muslim tribesmen and gangs have taken over campaigns of butchery like those that occurred over Christmas. And some Nigerian Christians say that the atrocities of these ordinary Fulani Muslims are even worse than those practiced by Boko Haram.

“The disembowelling of pregnant women and the butchering of the fetus is a specialty of theirs,” the rector of a Nigerian seminary described.

Obama officials claimed that the real issue wasn’t Muslim terrorism but Muslim oppression. A decade later as Fulani Muslims have gone on massacring Christians, the story hasn’t changed even as the massacres continued under the regime of Buhari: a fellow Fulani Muslim.

Instead of addressing the Fulani Muslim genocide of Christians, human rights organizations and the media have claimed that members of the Fulani ethnic group are the ones facing “persecution” in Nigeria and elsewhere in the region for their Jihadist tendencies.

The massacre of Christians in Nigeria, like Oct 7 and Islamic terrorism around the world from India to America is part of a thousand year Islamic genocide of non-Muslims commanded by the Koran. Every time their victims fight back, the Islamists and their allies cry “genocide”, but the true genocide is the one that has claimed countless millions across every religious group in every part of the world. It is a thousand year genocide that the world must fight back against.

Muslim terrorists are not the victims of genocide, they are its perpetrators.

We must stand with the Christian victims of Islamic genocide in Nigeria, with the Jewish victims of genocide in Israel, the Hindu victims of genocide in Kashmir, the Buddhist victims of genocide in Myanmar and with the atheists being murdered in Bangladesh.

If we do not, the final genocide will be our own.

Christian villages in Nigeria reeling after Christmas attacks leave nearly 200 dead

Catholic News Agency
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 27, 2023 / 18:41 pm

Catholic and Nigerian leaders are demanding government action as Christian villages in the central Nigerian state of Plateau are reeling from a series of Christmas weekend attacks that left nearly 200 Christian Nigerians dead.

Photos obtained by CNA show victims of the attacks being buried in mass graves, underscoring the scale of the bloodshed.

“This indeed has been a gory Christmas for us,” Plateau governor Caleb Mutfwang said in a Tuesday statement that noted the attacks were “well-coordinated” and carried out using “heavy weapons.”

Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese in northern Nigeria meanwhile called on the newly elected Nigerian president Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to protect the Nigerian people, telling him: “You have no excuses before God or the people of Nigeria” and that “neither God nor history will forgive you if you fail.”

The bishop’s address, which was published by the Nigeria Catholic Network, also emphasized that “Nigerians have almost lost hope” that “a government can really and truly care for them” and that “our politicians will put our interests first and find a way to deal with the cancer of corruption.”

According to accounts by several local news sources and human rights activists, 198 Christians were killed in a series of terror attacks in 26 Christian communities in Plateau. The attacks began the night of Dec. 23 and continued through Christmas Day.

Maria Lozano, a representative for the papal relief group Aid to the Church in Need, told CNA that the Christmas attacks made the weekend “one of the most violent [times] in the area’s history.” She said she believes that a radicalized Islamic tribe known as the Fulani is responsible for the latest violence.

The attack also marks another instance of terrorists targeting Christian Nigerians on significant Christian feast days such as in the 2022 Pentecost massacre that killed 50 Christian villagers. Lozano said the attacks were carried out because of a combination of reasons including ethnic and religious strife between the Christian farmers and nomadic Fulani herdsmen. 

She pointed out that the timing of the attacks had “religious undertones.”

Lozano also emphasized that a “lack of response from the government” over the years has worsened the situation in the region and that tangible government support has been largely absent after the Christmas massacre. The absence of government support, Lozano said, has forced Christian churches to take on the “primary responsibility of providing assistance.”

Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu, meanwhile, ordered an “immediate mobilization of relief sources” and directed the country’s security agencies to “scour every part of the zone” and “apprehend the culprits responsible for these atrocities.”
Mutfwang, the Plateau governor, called on the country’s security agencies to also identify those who have been “the sponsors of these attacks” so that the government can act to “unravel all those responsible.”

“Until we cut off the supply in terms of sponsorship, we may never be able to see the end of this,” Mutfwang said.

Sean Nelson, a religious-rights attorney with the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), told CNA that “whole villages” were razed and hundreds more Christians are now displaced because of the attacks, which he said were motivated by the Fulani tribe’s “hatred of Christians” and “desire to take land.”

Nelson, who closely follows developments in Nigeria for ADF, joined in the demand for the Nigerian government to take immediate action, saying that it must do more than just voice support for the victims.

“The scale of this attack is shocking,” Nelson said. “If no real actions are taken after these attacks this Christmas, it can only be deliberate indifference to the lives of these Christian communities.”

Nelson said that the Fulani have been “launching attacks on Plateau and Middle Belt communities for years” but that their attacks have significantly increased this past year.

“It is indescribable the grief that these Christian communities have gone through this past year. The president of Nigeria has directed law enforcement to find and prosecute the attackers, but we have heard similar statements before, with little action taken afterward,” he said. “This time must be different.”


Plateau State Residents Confirm Over 200 Persons Killed, 32 Communities Displaced In Herdsmen Attacks

May 25, 2023

Community sources told Sahara Reporters on Thursday, that 200 people were killed between Monday May 15 and Wednesday May 17, 2023 with millions of properties destroyed including several houses.

There is palpable tension in the Mangu local government area of Plateau State as armed Fulani herdsmen reportedly sacked 32 communities, forcing nine Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps to spring up.

Community sources told Sahara Reporters on Thursday, that 200 people were killed between Monday May 15 and Wednesday May 17, 2023 with millions of properties destroyed including several houses.

Lamenting the killings and destruction of the communities, one of the sources told Sahara Reporters that 37 people were killed on Monday night, while accusing the security agencies of aiding Fulani herdsmen in the attacks.

The source said “I attended a meeting yesterday (Wednesday), about what is happening in Mangu local government area. Over 200 people were recorded killed between Monday May 15 and Wednesday May 17, 2023. Thirty two communities have been completely displaced with nine Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPs) with over 15,000 people.

“From the record 1,292 households with 3,951 children, 2,701 women and 2,140 men were all displaced. There are no security agencies there, the securities are only going there to visit for a few minutes and go.”

The source, who didn’t want to be mentioned in the media, further stated that some parts of Kanke and Riyom were attacked on Wednesday.

Sahara Reporters reported on Wednesday evening that some communities in the Riyom area of Plateau State were under armed attacks by herdsmen.

The attack which started Wednesday evening happened at Jol and Bayei villages in Riyom. Two people were later confirmed killed while one person was fatally injured in the attack.

Governor Simon Lalong, has confirmed the incident which he had described as a sad development, while directing security forces to ensure that the killers were apprehended to face justice.


Over 50,000 Christians Killed in Nigeria Since 2009 Islamic Uprising: Intersociety Report

By Jude Atemanke Jos
16 April, 2023 / 8:30 pm (ACI Africa).

Thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the Islamist uprising began in 2009, a recent investigation has established, further revealing that “1,041 defenseless Christians” were put to death in the first 100 days of 2023.

The latest report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) indicates, “Since the 2009 Islamic uprising, 52,250 Christians and 34,000 moderate Muslims have been butchered or hacked to death.”

“30,250 of those have been killed since 2015, when President Muhhamadu Buhari came to power,” authors of the report by the Intersociety, a research and investigative rights group, which has been monitoring and investigating religious persecution and other forms of religious violence by State and non-State actors across Nigeria since 2010, say.

According to the report by the human rights group that does research and investigation by direct contacts with the victims, eyewitnesses, media tracking, review of credible local and international reports, interviews and closed sources among other methods, thousands of Christian deaths are attributed to “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen”.

“The 52,250 Christian deaths in Nigeria in fourteen years recorded addition of 9,250 Christian deaths from the July 2021 figure of 43,000; out of which, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen accounted for 6,000 Christian deaths and security forces, Jihadist Fulani Bandits, BH, ISWAP, Ansaru and others 3,250,” the report released on Tuesday, April 11, indicates. 

“Buhari’s radical Islamism since 2015 had killed 30,250 Christians and attacked 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools,” the authors of the report say, and add that since 2009, “14 million Christians have been uprooted and forced to flee their homes and 800 Christian communities attacked”.

Authors of the Intersociety report say that “Christians of Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Niger, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi worst affected in the attacks,” and that Christians living in Eastern Nigeria have been “worst hit in Nigerian military killings and property destructions on ethno-religious grounds.”

“Hypocrisies of Nigerian Christian leaders may turn church buildings into Turkish church monuments in 50 years’ time,” the authors of the report further say, adding, “Progenitors of Christian converts were more protected during the Oracular Period under Pre-Christian Papacy than present.”

In the 2023 investigation, Intersociety researchers found that “no fewer than 1,041 defenseless Christians were hacked to death by Nigeria’s Jihadists in the first 100 days of 2023 or 1st Jan to 10th April 2023.”

Their investigations established that “not less than 380 Christians were slaughtered by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in 100 days in Benue, 102 in Kaduna, 150 in Christian parts of Niger State (Paikoro, Munya, Shiroro, Rafi, etc), 100 deaths in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa by BH/ISWAP); 32 Christian deaths in Plateau, 20 in Ondo, 11 in Edo, 10 in Delta as well as Kebbi 10 deaths, Bauchi 9 deaths, Taraba 14 deaths, Katsina 10 deaths, Enugu 6 deaths; and 60 deaths arising from the military killings in the East since Jan 2023 and others 50 deaths.”

“Also, no fewer than 707 Christians were abducted within the same period; out of which Niger State recorded more than 200 abductions including 14th March 2023 abduction of over 100 Christians in Adunu (Paikoro),” the Intersociety researchers say in the report signed by their Board Chair & Lead-Researcher, Emeka Umeagbalasi.

They continue to report that “no fewer than 101 anti-Christian abductions were recorded in Kaduna while other affected States are Katsina, Taraba, Edo, Ogun, Nassarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Borno, Yobe and Adawama (about 60 abductions by BH/ISWAP), Bauchi, Enugu, Imo, Kebbi, Gombe, Bayelsa and Cross River.”

The entity that is comprised of human rights researchers further reports that “no fewer than 50 million Christians majority of them in Northern Nigeria are facing serious threats from Jihadists for being professed Christians; out of which not less than fourteen million have been uprooted and eight million forced to flee their homes to avoid being hacked to death.”

The researchers of the human rights group observe that “Nigerian Christian leaders have abandoned their spiritual calling as defenders of faith and protectors of their faith members and are deeply engrossed in the pursuit of crude material wealth.”

They warn that “if extreme care is not taken to rescue the Christendom and the Church, the churches or church buildings in Nigeria will become the present-day Turkish church monuments in fifty years’ time or less than that.”

The latest Intersociety report also makes reference to its 2022 report, saying, “5,068 Christians (were) hacked to death in 2022 and hundreds disappeared without trace.”

The organization “emotionally” dedicates its investigative report to “1,041 slain and disappeared victims of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and other Jihadists’ genocidal attacks carried out across Nigeria in the first 100 days of 2023.”


Islamic Extremists Kills Pastor, Herdsmen Slaughter 134 Christians in Nigeria

April 25, 2023

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Islamic extremists killed a pastor in northeast Nigeria, and terrorists in the country’s middle belt state of Benue killed 134 Christians the first week of April, sources said.

The Rev. Yakubu Shuaibu of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN) was killed in Borno state by terrorists from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) who on the night of April 4 broke into his house in Madlau, Biu County, said EYN leader Salamatu Billi.

They also shot and wounded his pregnant wife, who was receiving treatment at Biu General Hospital in Biu town, Billi said. The pastor is also survived by another child.

Pastor Shuaibu’s body was buried in his hometown of Dzangwala, Gombi County, Adamawa state, Billi said. The couple began work in the area with the EYN church four years ago.

“Please let us all pray for his wife’s recovery, for God to comfort his entire family, and for the church of God and ministers of the church working in the danger zones of Borno and Adamawa states,” Billi said. “The hunt for Christians, especially ministers serving in the church, by terrorists in northeast Nigeria continues. This is the third EYN pastor to be killed in cold blood within a short time by these terrorists.”

ISWAP also attacked predominantly Christian Njimtilo, Pulka and Ajiri Mafa villages at the same time the pastor was slain, said area resident Josephine Joseph.

“During the attacks, the terrorists destroyed houses of Christians and looted their homes of food items,” Joseph said.

In Benue state, in Nigeria’s middle belt, Fulani herdsmen killed 134 Christians from April 2 to April 10, said Benue Gov. Samuel Ortom in a press statement.

“Within one week, 134 Christians have been killed by herdsmen,” he said. “This apart from the fact that of the 23 local government areas of the state, 18 of them have been ravaged by herdsmen attacks, and most Christians in these council areas displaced.”

The herdsmen attacked the local government areas of Makurdi, Guma, Otukpo, Apa and Logo, area residents told Morning Star News in text messages. They also attacked Kwande County, said area resident Dominic Anza, president of the Universal Reformed Christian Church (NKST).

“Armed Fulani herdsmen have been attacking our Christian communities for years, but recently, these attacks became so intense that hardly any day passes without a community being attacked,” Pastor Anza said. “My village of Turan in Kwande Local Government Area was also attacked by these Fulani herdsmen, and many Christians in my village killed.”

Christians affected in the areas are mostly members of the NKST, the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church and Pentecostal churches, and they are now unable to hold worship services, he said.

“My family’s house been burned down by the herdsmen, and all my relations have been displaced,” Pastor Anza said. “It’s impossible for me to even attempt to visit my village, because these herdsmen have completely taken over the affected communities.”

Most Christians slain were women and children, and thousands of the displaced are living in camps, he said.

“They’re not even safe there, as within this period, these camps have also been attacked and many Christians killed,” Pastor Anza said.

Herdsmen attacked a facility housing displaced Christians in Ngban village, Guma County, on April 7 at about 10 p.m., killing 38 Christians and wounding 36 others, said community leader Dennis Shemberga. Catherine Anene, spokesperson for the Benue State Command, confirmed the attack on displaced Christians at the Ngban village camp.

Armed herdsmen invaded predominantly Christian Umogidi village, Otukpo County, on April 5, killing 52 Christians, a council official told Morning Star News.

“The Fulani herdsmen have been terrorizing Christians in this area over the years; they destroy farms belonging to Christians at will, and any Christian who tried to question their actions is killed,” said Bako Eje, chairman of the Otukpo Local Government Council.

In Apa County, herdsmen attacked villages on April 3, killing 47 Christians, area residents said.

“Christian villages like Ikpobi, Odugbo, Akpanta, Ologba and Oyiji have adversely been affected, as many Christians have been killed and many more displaced,” said area community leader John Antenyi. “This has been going on over the years but became more pronounced this month of April.”

Fulani herdsmen attacked a church service in Akenawe village, Logo County, on April 2, killed a Christian and took four others captive at gunpoint, said community leader Hemen Terkimbi.

“Christians were in the church worshipping during a night vigil service when herdsmen attacked them,” Terkimbi said. “A Christian worshipper was killed, five other Christians were injured, and four Christian worshippers including the resident pastor, the Rev. Gwadue Kwaghtyo, were captured and taken to an unknown place.”

Another community leader, Eche Akpoko, said that in four months, herdsmen killed more than 89 Christians in 31 area villages, including Ope-Ikobi, Ochi-Ikobi, Ijaha-Ikobi, Imana-Ikobi, Oleoke-Ikobi, Ebugodo-Edikwu, Ankpali- Edikwu, Olegijamu-Edikwu, Olekele-Edikwu, Ukpogo-Edikwu, Edikwu-Icho, Edikwu-Oladoga, Okwiji-Edikwu and Ojecho- Edikwu.
Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2022, with 5,014, according to Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report. It also led the world in Christians abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted or harassed, forcibly married or physically or mentally abused, and it had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. As in the previous year, Nigeria had the second most church attacks and internally displaced people.

In the 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to sixth place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 7 the previous year.

“Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery,” the WWL report noted. “This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of the nation… Nigeria’s government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians’ rights are carried out with impunity.”

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 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.


38 dead, 51 injured as killer herdsmen open fire on women, children in Benue IDP camp

The victims were residents who had fled their villages to state-run shelters following previous attacks that gripped the vast agrarian region in central Nigeria.

PEOPLES GAZETTE
APRIL 8, 2023

Armed herdsmen invaded a camp of internally-displaced persons in Benue on Friday, leaving dozens of mostly women and children dead or injured.

The attackers reportedly broke into a primary school harbouring the displaced citizens in Nyiev Ward, Guma Local Government Area, around 7:00 p.m., according to a witness who spoke with Peoples Gazette.

“They arrived from different sides of the community and started killing people in the camp,” the witness, who identified himself as Ihembe Tyubee, said by telephone on Saturday morning. “They even chased some people who broke out of the camp to the road and killed them there.”

Pregnant women and children were among the fatalities, the witness added, emphasising that the attackers spoke Fulfude, the language of Fulani ethnic nationalities.

At least 51 people were said to have been evacuated to the state’s medical centre in Makurdi after being mortally injured by the assailants, who immediately fled the scene.

The victims were residents who had fled their villages to the camps following previous attacks that gripped the vast agrarian region in central Nigeria.

A police spokesperson in Benue said the command was aware of the attack but declined to provide additional details as to how it happened and the possible location of suspects.

A spokesman for Governor Samuel Ortom said the governor had been briefed about the matter and would issue a statement later.

The state has endured attacks from killer herdsmen over the past six years amid disputes over available lands for farming and grazing.

Mr Ortom’s administration signed a law that prohibited open grazing across the state, saying it would also curtail the movement of potential attackers.

The governor said his policy engendered a reduction in the frequency of the carnage by the killer pastoralists, many of whom remained largely unknown and whose activities had been repeatedly condemned by the association of herders, MACBAN.

The latest attack came about a month after the same LGA was attacked by suspected herdsmen, leaving at least 15 villagers killed.


Bandits abduct 80 children in Zamfara

The abductors are yet to reach the parents to make any demands.

ARDO HAZZAD
APRIL 7, 2023

No fewer than 80 children were Friday morning abducted by bandits in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The children are between the ages of 12 and 17, BBC Hausa reported.

Some parents of the abducted children who spoke to the British broadcaster said the victims were in the bush fetching firewood at about 8:00 a.m. when the assailants rounded them up and marched them away into the forest.

Bandits’ activities have refused to abate in Zamfara despite several government intervention to stem the criminal activity.

Hundreds of schoolchildren have been kidnapped and some later released upon payment of ransom.

The abductors are yet to reach the parents to make any demands as of the time BBC reported the kidnap.


Suspected herdsmen kill 45 persons in Benue, many injured

The attack which started Monday evening was carried out by Fulani herdsmen, residents allege.

Peoples Gazette
APRIL 5, 2023

In fresh attacks on Benue communities, suspected herdsmen have killed many locals in Apa Local Government Area, Peoples Gazette has learnt.

The attack which started Monday evening was carried out by Fulani herdsmen, residents allege.

A resident told The Gazette that no fewer than 45 bodies have been counted in the attack which spanned 20 communities. The traditional ruler of Ugbobi community was also killed by the marauders. Many villagers also sustained grave injuries.

“Our people have become victims of unprovoked attacks from the Fulani herdsmen in recent times, the unprovoked attacks started with attacks on Ikobi in Apa where not less than15 people were inhumanly butchered to death. In Oiji, Apa, three persons were butchered to death. In Edikwu two, in Inyapu seven, in Akpanta three; in Ugbobi four, including their chief, Chief Adanu; in Akpete, one person was killed and two ladies were raped. In Atakpa, Agatu, eight persons were butchered to death. Apart from these deaths, uncounted numbers were wounded.” Barrister Ada Ocholi, a resident, stated.

He continued, “People cannot go to their farms to harvest farm produce, in most cases, the Fulani Herdsmen would control their cows to my people’s farms and allow them to eat up the farm produce and then set whatever remains ablaze; the Fulani herdsmen have directed that they wouldn’t like to see my people in their respective farm as from 10 am as that is the time they start the daily rearing of their cattle.”

Mr Ocholi lamented that there has been no meaningful response from the police, and even the military men who are available in the affected communities do not hunt the armed attackers in the bush, they rather maintain their positions to secure their lives.

Efforts to speak with the police were not successful at the time of making this report.


Terrorists Kill More than 60 Christians in Benue State, Nigeria

Pastor, four others kidnapped in attack on church service.
April 3, 2023

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Saturday (April 1) killed at least seven Christians in Benue state, Nigeria, bringing the total to more than 60 villagers slain in the past month, sources said.

Assailants killed a Christian in an attack on a worship meeting Saturday night (April 1) in Logo County, sources said, after at least six Christians in Apa County were killed earlier in the day, said Ikobi, Apa County resident Sunday Ojo in a text message that day.

“Ikobi village, a Christian community, is currently under attack by Fulani herdsmen,” Ojo said. “Several houses have been razed, while more than six Christians have been killed by the attackers. Christians in Apa Local Government Area need your prayers.”

Edward Lucky, another resident, said in a text message “Christian villages in Apa Local Government Area are under attack. Many Christians have been displaced by the armed herdsmen. These attacks have forced Christians to abandon their farms. There has been no government intervention in order to stem these attacks.”

In Benue state’s Logo County on Saturday night, Fulani herdsmen invaded a church service at about 9 p.m., killed one Christian, wounded five others and kidnapped the pastor and four other congregation members, sources said.

“Muslim Fulani herdsmen have launched an attack on Christians who were worshipping at a Pentecostal church in Akenawe, Tswarev village in Logo Local Government Area,” area resident Uzer Moses said in a text message to Morning Star News on Sunday (April 2). “A member, Mr. Orolumunga Changogi, was shot to death by the herdsmen, while the pastor of the church, the Rev. Gwadue Kwaghtyo alongside four others were captured and taken away to an unknown place.”

Five other church members were shot and wounded and were receiving hospital treatment, Moses said. Community leader Zaki Tyokase Ingyutu was among Christians shot and injured during the attack, he said.

Other sources confirmed the assault, including Hemen Terkimbi, a Christian community leader in the area. He said the federal government needs to curtail such unprovoked terrorist acts by herdsmen in Benue state.

“This attack on defenseless Christians who were in a worship service is callous,” Terkimbi said. “This act is condemnable, and there’s no moral justification for it.”

Days prior to attacks on Logo and Apa counties, herdsmen attacked Agatu County.

“The Fulanis attacked Atakpa village, a Christian community in Agatu Local Government Area, where they killed more than six Christians and wounded dozens of them,” said John Ikwulono, former council official of the Agatu LGA, in a text message to Morning Star News. “Aside from invading Atakpa village, the herdsmen also invaded Okpagabi village, where they shot and injured many Christians. Some of these Christian victims are currently receiving treatment in some hospitals here.”

Paul Hemba, special adviser on security matters to the Benue state governor, said large groups of armed terrorists and herdsmen recently carried out massive attacks in the state.

“In the last few days we have been receiving reports of large influx of armed herdsmen into Apa, Agatu, Guma and Kwande Local Government Areas,” Hemba said. “These attacks on Christian communities by herdsmen have persisted ceaselessly. This has been happening for some time, but military and police personnel drafted to curtail these terrorist acts have not been able to achieve their objective. The armed herdsmen have been coming for attacks, and each time they are repelled and after some days they come back again.”

Catherine Anene, a spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, told Morning Star News, “It is true these herders have moved in large numbers into the affected communities, but efforts are being made by the police and other security agencies to stem these attacks.”

On March 26 in Guma Local Government Area, five persons were killed in Fulani herdsmen attacks on the predominantly Christian villages of Njee and Chongu, after Udei village was attacked on March 23, said area resident James Anyamnhu.

“Five Christians were killed in these attacks,” Anyamnhu told Morning Star News in a text message. “Three of the victims were Christian women, while two of them were men. The victims are farmers.”

In Agatu and Otukpo counties, five Christians were killed in two herdsmen attacks on March 23 in Atakpa village, Agatu County and Iwili village, Otukpo County, said Joseph Ngbede, a council official of the Agatu LGA. He added that Guma County was also attacked.

On March 13, herdsmen also killed more 50 Christians in Kwande County, community leaders said in a statement.

“We write to report recent, sustained terror attacks on our communities over the past 10 days which have resulted in over 50 people dead, several injured, thousands displaced and loss of property and farmlands,” stated Festus Iorkyaa, Eric Tyohemba Udu and Solomon Terfa Jijah of the Turan Development Association (TUDA).

The killings and destruction of properties occur on a daily basis, they said.

“In some cases, the herdsmen have taken over the lands and settled on them,” they stated. “They come in good numbers with their cattle, destroying farm produce for their animals to graze, chase away the Christian inhabitants of such areas and pitch their tents there.”

They identified some of the Christians killed as Abande Njoor, Iornum Sonter, Abraham Terna, Aker Shagba Achuna, Kendon Tyover, Ornguga Tyodoo, Ajoh Iorhemba, Orshio Msughter, Abe Nyam, Aker Ushahembas, Ayagwa Lunen, Apav Terhile, Jirbee Amaku, Aza Bem, Ahil Wende, Iormumbes Ashi Shimave, Terhemba Madom, Andyar Aemberga, Kundu Igba, Tarkper Adomko, Jirbee Amaku, Terlumun Swen, Terna Udam, Atighir Aondokula, Terfa Mbagbar, Terver Mbagbar, Terzungwe Chagh, Tyoazua Aondona, Kogh Aondowase, Akura Utoo, Iortsor Shaapera, Awuhe Terhemen, Lase Mbanengen, Kuku Terngu, Kuku Mzehemen and Hangeuir Iorwuese Kuta.

At a press conference of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) on March 9, Benue state official Mike Uba said attaining land is not the primary motive for the attacks.

“These Fulani Muslims have wished to capture the Benue river banks in the past; their intentions in Benue and Nigeria have nothing to do with livestock,” Uba said. “What they are doing is land-grabbing for the Muslim Fulanis of the whole world. They are especially targeting Benue state.”

Uba said the attacks marked the first time that six Benue LGAs – Guma, Makurdi, Gwer-West, Kwande, Agatu and Logo – were simultaneously under attack by Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2022, with 5,014, according to Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report. It also led the world in Christians abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted or harassed, forcibly married or physically or mentally abused, and it had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. As in the previous year, Nigeria had the second most church attacks and internally displaced people.

In the 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to sixth place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 7 the previous year.

“Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery,” the WWL report noted. “This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of the nation… Nigeria’s government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians’ rights are carried out with impunity.”

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 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.


Jihadists kill 37 fishermen in north Nigeria, say militia

March 9, 2023
Africa News

Jihadists in northeast Nigeria's Borno state have killed at least 37 fishermen, militia sources and a local told AFP on Thursday, in the latest violence in the region.

Boko Haram insurgents who operate in the area alongside rivals linked the Islamic State group, ISWAP, often target locals to steal or because they accuse them of spying for the military or militiamen fighting them.

On Wednesday evening, a dozen fighters believed to be with Boko Haram opened fire on a group of fishermen outside Guggo village, 18 kilometers (12 miles) from the town of Dikwa, three sources said.

"We have recovered 37 bodies last night along the river bank and nearby bushes," militia leader Babakura Kolo told AFP.

"The figure is not exhaustive and search for more bodies is ongoing in surrounding bushes," Kolo said.

The fishermen were sorting out their catch of the day on the bank of a river when they were ambushed. Some scampered for safety, said a second militia member Umar Ari who gave the same death toll.

"The terrorists pursued the fishermen as they tried to flee, shooting them dead but three managed to escape and alerted Dikwa about the attack," Ari said.

It was not clear how many had gone out fishing that day, said a local resident Abdullahi Kyari who also gave the same toll.

Neither the military nor local authorities have commented on the attack.

Since the insurgency began in 2009, at least 40,000 people have been killed and more than two million people have been displaced from their homes according to the UN.

The violence has also spread to parts of neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.


Fulani Herdsmen Resume Attacks, Kill Over 50 Persons In Benue Communities As Nigerian Police Dispute Casualty Figures

Sahara Reporters
March 7, 2023

Less than a week to the governorship and House of Assembly elections on Saturday, March 11, Fulani herdsmen have invaded six communities in the Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, North Central Nigeria and killed no less than 50 persons.

Although the police in Benue State said the casualty figure was not up to 50, it could not provide counter details.
The affected communities in the four-day attack are Adam, Iyarinwa, Abamde Ityuluv, Waya Boagundu, Agura Ayaga and Azege areas in Turan Council Ward, Kwande LGA.

The former chairman of the Council Tertsua Yarkbewan, who confirmed the casualty figures while addressing journalists, on Monday, said the death toll could be more.

Lamenting the constant invasion and killing of his people by herdsmen, Yarkbewan said, “My people are being massacred like goats. What we have been hearing is that there are Fulani attacks, especially in Turan in the Kwande axis. Even places where there were no attacks before are witnessing attacks.

“Now, every day you hear that five or four people were killed, you cannot have the exact number of those that have been killed because some corpses are still in the bush and yet to be recovered. But looking at the number of people being killed in the past few days, I think the casualty figures should be over 50.”

Reacting to the incident, the Police Command spokesperson, Catherine Anene, confirmed the attack but said the normalcy have returned to the affected communities.

Anene, however, insisted that casualty figure wasn't correct.

“They have not given me the report but it is not up to 50; the initial report they gave me there was a change of leadership of the division. The new DPO just reported last Friday and when I asked him to give me a situation report he said the area is calm now," she said.


Terrorists Kill 39 in Two Kaduna Communities, Raze Houses

Arise News
20th Dec, 2022

At least 39 people have been killed in an attack on Malagum 1 and Sokwong communities of Kagoro Chiefdom, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna state.

It was learnt that among those killed, were a man, his wife and son.

Several others were said to be missing while many houses were reportedly burnt.

Earlier reports had put the number of deaths at 28.

However s source in the area said the 11 corpses were discovered in bushes while others died of injuries sustained.

A community leader in the area told THISDAY in a telephone chat that the attack occurred on Sunday at about 11pm and lasted for over an hour.

He said there is serious tension in the communities as angry youths were insisting that they be allowed to go into the bushes to search for those missing.

The community leader who pleaded anonymity said he counted eight corpses when he visited Malagun 1 this morning.

“I personally saw eight corpses myself this morning in Malagun 1.

“I also counted up to six burnt houses before some youths started to protest and I left immediately because I didn’t want to be caught in any fracas.

“But the report that is reaching me now is that 21 corpses were picked in Malagun 1, some people are still missing. Nobody knows where they are.

“It is possible that they could have ran to some other houses or to the bushes for safety”, he said.

He said, “Women were crying following the killing of their children or husbands.

“I know somebody whose father, mother and brother were killed”, said.

He added that the police and operatives of the joint task force had been deployed to the affected places.

According to agency reports, the Council Chairman of Kaura LGA, Mathias Siman, confirmed the incident but said could only confirm the killing of seven people in Sokwong community.

The attacks came barely five days after three people were killed in a similar manner in Malagum 1.

The council chairman said almost all the houses in Sokwong Community were completely razed down by the terrorist adding that he was yet to confirm the killings in Malagum 1.

The council chairman called on residents of the areas to remain calm as security agencies were being deployed to carry out investigation in to the attacks .

However, the speaker of Kaura I Legislative Council, Atuk Stephen, according to reports, confirmed that 22 people were killed in the attack on Malagum 1, while eight were said to have been killed in Sokwong.

Atuk described the killings as barbaric and called on the federal government and security agencies to redouble their efforts in curtailing renewed killings in the area.

The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police command, Mohammed Jalige, could not be reached when contacted as his mobile phone was switched off.

Meanwhile the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has condemned the killings.

Joseph Hayab, state chairman of the association, described the action as barbaric and a strategy to scared the people from exercising the rights.

Hayab said urged the government to ensure that those who committed the evil must be fished out and brought to justice.

The statement said, “The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kaduna State Chapter is mourning the death of over 28 innocent defenseless people of the Mallagum community in the Kagoro area who were brutally slaughtered last night.

“This massacre has further proven that the killers of the Southern Kaduna people have not yet been neutralized as claimed.”

“The federal government and the security agencies must not let the killers escape. Those who committed this evil must be fished out, arrested, and brought to face justice.

“These renewed killings may be a strategy to scare the people from exercising their rights and to further increase fear and impoverish them.

“Accordingly, CAN condemn this barbaric act in the strongest terms but appeal for calm, calling on the government and security to rise to the duty of protecting lives and property”.


Fulani Terrorists Kill More than 70 Christians in Central Nigeria

Benue state officials seek to arm citizens to defend themselves.

October 25, 2022

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen last week killed more than 70 Christians in a village in central Nigeria, prompting state officials to state that lack of government protection means citizens must defend themselves, sources said.

In what a Benue state police official suspected was a revenge attack for the alleged killing of five Fulani herders in three different incidents in the area on Tuesday (Oct. 18), herdsmen the next day attacked Gbeji village in Ukum County, Benue state.

“In just two days, over 70 Christians were killed by Fulani militiamen in Gbeji community in our local government area,” said Terumbur Kartyo, chairman of the Ukum Local Government Council in Benue, state.

Kartyo added that in Guma Local Government Area, herdsmen last week shot and injured more than 100 Christians in Udei and Yelewata villages, displacing thousands.

Ukum area resident Bede Bartholomew told Morning Star News in a text message that at least 56 Christians were killed in Gbeji town last week.

“About 36 corpses of some of the victims have so far been recovered and taken to the mortuary,” he said.

Another area resident, Terrence Kuanum, said Gbeji was attacked along with the villages of Vaase, Daudu, Tyotyev, Udei and Yelwata.

“Fulani herdsmen have been wreaking havoc in many parts of the state,” he said.

Benue state government officials who visited the area last week after the attacks said the federal government’s inability to curtail the violence justifies providing high-powered arms to citizens’ defense groups.

“We are standing on our request for the federal government to give us a license for our Volunteer Guards to bear AK-47s and other sophisticated weapons,” said Secretary to the State Government Anthony Ijohor, representing Benue Gov. Samuel Ortom. “The security agencies have been overstretched and, that being the case, our people have to defend themselves.”

In Daudu, Guma LGA, herdsmen on Tuesday (Oct. 18) killed Philip Tavershima Tyohenna, a Christian who was working on his farm when attacked, area resident John Terver said.

On Oct. 12 in Yelwata, herdsmen killed five Christians, residents said.

“The Fulani herdsmen attacked our community of Yelwata at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 12 October. Most of the victims were Christians working on their farms,” James Orduen said. “Five corpses were recovered by members of our community on their farms. Six other Christians were shot and injured.”

Waku Christopher, a member of the Guma Local Government Council, confirmed the killing of the five Christians.

“It  is true that Fulanis attacked and killed five members of our community in Yelewata,” Christopher said, adding that four of the wounded were receiving hospital treatment.

Christian Girls in Captivity

In northwestern Nigeria, five Christian girls are among the 11 high school students still in captivity after Islamic extremist militants kidnapped them in June 2021, a rights activist said.

Terrorists with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) on June 17, 2021 abducted 70 students from the Federal Government Girls College, Birnin Yauri, in Kebbi state. Following negotiations with the Nigerian government, most of the 59 students since released were Muslims; the reasons for holding the other 11 are unknown.

“These girls have been with their captors for one year and four months – they’ve been abused, tortured and raped,” rights activist Hauwa Mustapha Babura said in a statement. “What have they done to deserve this traumatic experience?”
Babura, a Muslim, released the statement in observance of the Oct. 11 International Day of the Girl Child. She identified the Christian girls as Elizabeth Ogechi Nwafor, Esther Sunday, Rebecca James, Neempere Daniel and Bilha Musa.

Danjuma Haruna, president of the Parents/Teachers Association of Nigeria, called on the Nigerian government to ensure the release of kidnapped high school girls.

“The Nigerian government should as a matter of urgency try all it can to rescue our kidnapped children in the hands of terrorists,” Haruna said in a statement.

Kebbi state spokesman Yahaya Sarki said efforts were continuing to secure the release of the remaining students.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith last year (Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021) at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.

Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.

In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.


Gunmen kill 37 in attack on rural community in Benue
Survivors said the attackers raided the community in the early hours of Sunday

ByAmeh Ejekwonyilo 
June 13, 2022
Premium Times

Gunmen, who attacked Igama, a rural community in Benue State on Sunday morning, killed 37, residents of the community told PREMIUM TIMES.

A survivor, Ambrose Adah, said the attackers raided the community while he and his family were preparing for Mass.

Igama, an agrarian community, located in Okpokwu Local Government area, is 160 kilometres from Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

“While we were preparing for the early morning Mass on Sunday, herdsmen in large numbers riding on motorbikes, invaded our community,” Mr Adah said.

“Members of our community mostly women and youths were killed during the attack.

“So far 37 corpses have been recovered and presently deposited at St Mary’s General Hospital, Okpoga,” the headquarters of Okpokwu Local Government.

“My three-bedroom bungalow and other valuables were destroyed by the herdsmen,” Mr Adah disclosed in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday.

He added: “Dozens of houses were razed to the ground,” while over 500 hundred residents who were displaced by the attack are seeking shelter at Ojigo ward, and other neighbouring communities.

To forestall further attacks, Mr Adah appealed to the federal government to station a military base in the area.

Corroborating Mr Adah’s claim, the federal lawmaker representing Ado, Ogbadibo and Okpokwu federal constituency, Francis Otta, told Channels Television in a statement that thirty persons were killed in the attack on the Igama community.

“Growing up in Utonkon District of Ado LGA, I knew Igama in Ojigo Ward of Okpokwu LGA as one of the most peaceful communities in Benue South until recently when terrorists turned it to a cesspool of blood,” Mr Ottah was quoted to have said in the statement.

“I, therefore, condemn the killing of 30 innocent people, and still counting… I have contacted security agents who have responded appropriately,” the lawmaker said.

Amina Audu, the chairperson of Okpokwu Local Government, confirmed the incident. She, however, said only 12 corpses have been recovered.

She said the attackers ravaged the two communities– Igama and Efeche, and hundreds of people have been displaced by the attack.

“The attack has occasioned a humanitarian crisis, not just at Igama but at Opialu, Ojigo and Utonkon, where survivors have fled to,” Ms Audu told this reporter in a telephone interview on Monday.

The local council boss said security operatives comprising the police, military and vigilantes, are patrolling the affected communities.

The Benue state police spokesperson, Sewuese Anene, confirmed the attack, but could not provide details on the casualties.

In a text message to this reporter, Ms Sewuese said: “Information was received about the attack in Okpokwu LGA and more teams were mobilized to assist the Division on the ground. I am yet to receive details from the team on the ground.”
The state has been under persistent deadly attacks allegedly perpetrated by herdsmen.

In April, 15 people were killed in an overnight raid on Tior-Tyu, a rural community in Tarka Local Government. The attack was blamed on the herdsmen militia.

Clashes between nomadic herdsmen and farming communities are rampant in Benue, a largely agrarian state.


Jihadists kill dozens in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno

At least 50 people were killed by militants on Sunday around the town of Rann in Nigeria's Borno state, in the country's northeastern tip near the border with Cameroon, witnesses told Reuters by phone on Monday.

May 24, 2022
(REUTERS)

Since 2009, Nigeria's northeast and Borno state in particular have been the centre of an insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Millions have been displaced and some 350,000 people have died from attacks and the subsequent humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.

Over time, Boko Haram has split with an active offshoot called Islamic State West Africa Province also claiming responsibility for attacks in the west African country.

Local residents blamed the latest attack on Boko Haram. Army spokesman Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We are all in pain over the killing of our innocent people who were working on their farmland. ... We buried 50 people today in Rann. They were clearing their farmlands ahead of the rainy season, while others went for firewood," Harun Tom, a local farmer, said.

Agid Muhammad, a farmer who recently returned to Rann after living in an internally displaced-persons camp, described a scene of carnage.

"A large number of Boko Haram on motorcycles armed with guns and machetes surrounded our people who were working on their farms and held them hostages before killing them one by one," Muhammad said, adding that his uncle was still missing.

"They were tied with rope and slaughtered. As I'm speaking to you, many people aren't accounted for."


Gunmen kill more than 100 in Nigeria’s north, say survivors

Associated Press
April 12, 2022
By CHINEDU ASADU

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An armed gang has killed more than 100 people in a remote part of northern Nigeria, survivors and local authorities said on Tuesday.

The attackers targeted four villages in the Kanam area of Plateau State, the most recent in a series of violent attacks in Nigeria’s north.

Such attacks in Nigeria’s northern region have become frequent, especially between Fulani Muslims who are mostly cattle herders and Christian communities from the Hausa and other ethnic groups who are mainly farmers.

The conflict over access to land and water has further worsened the sectarian division between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with its 206 million people deeply divided along religious lines.

In this recent attack, the assailants arrived Sunday afternoon, ransacking houses and shooting at residents, according to Alpha Sambo, a survivor and Kanam youth leader who is helping those displaced and injured.

“The people that have been killed are more than 100,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Other witnesses say as many as 130 died and many have been injured and displaced.

The police and the state government confirmed the attacks but did not give details on the cause or number of casualties. Authorities in Nigeria have in the past been accused of withholding information about death tolls in such killings.

On social media, videos viewed by AP appeared to show razed houses and bodies wrapped in mats and bags in mass graves. Many were buried even before their loved ones heard of their demise, residents said.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest violence, residents said it was carried out by the herdsmen.

The assailants “were well-armed” with AK-47 rifles and machetes and arrived on dozens of motorcycles each carrying up to three men, said youth leader Sambo.

Two days after the attack, the Kanam area is still tense and calm has not been fully restored, Dayyabu Yusuf Garga, chairman of the Kanam local government authority, said.

Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong directed security forces to restore peace and order in the affected villages and vowed “to make it difficult for terrorists and other criminals to set their bases in any part of the state,” according to a government statement.

The State Security Council has adopted “far-reaching measures to strengthen all security measures,” Lalong said, but similar commitments made in the past have not succeeded in improving security in the area, say residents.

President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015 on promises that he would improve Nigeria’s security and is facing growing pressure to curb the killings as he reaches the end of his second and final four-year term as the country’s leader.

The West African nation continues to grapple with security challenges in other parts of the country. A decade-long insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast by the Islamic extremist rebels of Boko Haram and violence by armed groups in the northwest have led to the deaths of thousands more.

Nigerian security forces are often outnumbered and outgunned by the armed groups in those volatile areas, say security analysts, creating a serious challenge to Nigeria’s quest for peace and stability.


Terrorists Kill 50 Christians and Abduct 100, including Priest

Church building, homes burned down in Kaduna state, Nigeria.
March 28, 2022

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Thursday (March 24) killed an estimated 50 Christians and abducted a Catholic priest in attacks on communities in an area of Kaduna state, Nigeria, area sources said.

In late-night attacks on 10 predominantly Christian communities of Giwa County, herdsmen and others also took about 100 people captive and burned down a church building, area residents said.

“They also burned houses, stores and killed animals,” resident Nuhu Musa told Morning Star News by text message. “These attacks continued and lasted up to the morning of Friday, 25 March. They didn’t allow even the dead bodies to be buried, as they shot at mourners and those who returned to the villages to conduct funerals for those killed.”

Women and children were among those killed, Musa said. The burned church building was located in Zangon Tama village, and the assailants also raided the villages of Unguwar Kaya Fatika, Barebari, Dillalai, Unguwar Bakko, Gidan Alhajin Kadi, Kadanya and Durumi, he said.

“Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna state is bleeding,” Musa said.

Samuel Aruwan, commissioner in Kaduna state’s Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, said initial reports showed the assailants had attacked the villages of Dillalai, Barebari, Dokan Alhaji Ya’u, Durumi, Kaya and Fatika.

The Catholic priest, the Rev. Felix Fidson Zakari of St. Ann’s Catholic Church, was taken away at gunpoint from Zangon Tama village along with others, four area residents said. The residents and a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Zaria requested prayer for the abducted priest.

Among other villagers, Julius Agbado, a member of the Catholic church, said, “Please kindly pray for the safe release of Rev. Fr. Felix Fidson Zakari, a priest of St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Zangon Tama, under the Catholic Diocese of Zaria, who was kidnapped after armed herdsmen and terrorists attacked Zangon Tama.”

Another area resident, Muazu Gogi, lamented the government’s failure to protect villagers against such attacks, which have become commonplace in Kaduna state.

“Pray for us to survive these attacks by herdsmen and bandits,” Gogi said. “These herdsmen and bandits attacked several villages in Giwa Local Government Area and killed more than 50 persons. The government is aware about the killings and destructions by these Fulani terrorists and armed bandits but is unable to protect the people.”

Killings in Benue State

In Benue state, Fulani herdsmen early Wednesday (March 23) killed three Christians, following the slaughter of more than 20 people in predominantly Christian areas of the state earlier in the month, sources said.

Residents of predominantly Christian Yoli village, in Katsina-Ala County, said the Fulani attacked at about 2 a.m. and also wounded a dozen people, forcing many to flee their homes.

“The Fulani, who had guns and weapons like machetes, attacked Christians in one of our villages, Yoyo community in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area,” Comfort Angula told Morning Star News in a text message. “They killed three members of the community, and many were forced to flee the village.”

Nicholas Kahiorga said the three Christians slain were members of the Universal Reformed Christian Church (NKST in Nigeria) in the village.

Alfred Atera, local council official of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, confirmed the killing of the three Christians in a statement on Thursday (March 24).

The killings follow similar herdsmen attacks this month in Benue state. In Guma County, herdsmen on March 10-12 attacked Ahentse village, killing five Christians on March 12, local residents said.

On March 10 in Iye village, herdsmen killed eight Christians, and on the same day in Udeyen village, six more were killed, area residents said. Prior to the attacks, residents said they received threatening letters from the herdsmen demanding that they leave the villages or be killed. The armed herdsmen who subsequently attacked rode motorcycles, they added.

Caleb Aba, Guma council chairman, cited a lower figure, saying eight Christians were killed in attacks on Iye and Udeyen.

“The attacks of Thursday, 10 March, were carried out late at night while the villagers were sleeping,” Aba said. “In both attacks, eight Christians were killed by the herdsmen.”

He identified some of the slain as Clement Tortiv, Enoch Utim, Terkimbi Kutaer, Mtaaega Tyogbea and Aondoaver Swende, and the wounded as Sunday Gaga and Torkwase Igbira.

Paul Hemba, a Benue state government spokesman, said six Christians were killed in Iye two were slain in Udeyen.

Benue Gov. Samuel Ortom said on March 14 that herdsmen killed more than 20 people the first two weeks of the month.
“In the last two weeks, more than 20 people have been killed by Fulani terrorists in unprovoked attacks in Guma, Logo and Gwer West, Agatu,” he said. “This has led to the growing number of IDPs [Interntally Displaced People] in Benue. As I speak, more than 1.5 million people are still living in poor shanties as shelter. They have nowhere to go to.”

A community leader said in Gwer West County on March 15 said that since 2011 herdsmen have killed 390 people in the area and wounded 37. Daniel Abomste said the attacks took place in the districts of Sengey, Mbachohon, Gbaange/Tongov, Tyoughatee and Saghev/Ukusu.

“Christians in these areas have been displaced by the herdsmen attacks and forced to flee their homes,” Abomste said.

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.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith last year (Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021) at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.

Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.

In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.


25 Killed As ISWAP Attacks 4 Villages In Borno

By Olatunji Omirin
Mon, 28 Feb 2022
Daily Trust

At least 25 people have been killed by fighters from the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP) in separate attacks within two days in the southern part of Borno State.

It was learnt that ISWAP had stormed a remote village, Sabon-Gari in Damboa Local Government Area of the state on Saturday, killing at least 11 persons.

The village is located about 125 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.

According to a security source, about seven bodies were recovered on Saturday before an additional four were found on Sunday afternoon.

“We (combined security forces) recovered a total of 11 dead bodies of farmers. They were all shot several times. They will be buried later in the day according to Islamic rite.” the source said.

“As we speak now, Sabon Gari has been deserted. Two people wounded from the attacks are now in Damboa town. People have fled the village as a result of fear,” he said.

The attack came barely 24 hours after an attack was reported in Mandaragirau and Ghuma villages in Biu LGA of Borno state.

It also happened less than 48 hours after the insurgents attacked Kautikari village in Chibok LGA where four persons were killed, including a traditional leader.

Local vigilantes in Mandaragirau village said this was the second time the insurgents had attacked their community in February.

“At least 13 persons were beheaded in Mandaragirau in Biu LGA on Saturday. They accused them of giving information to the soldiers. We are begging the government to help us. We are helpless now,” one of the vigilante sources said.

According to him, “the first time they came, some young men were abducted in our village. Up till today, nothing was heard of them.

“In Ghuma village, they abducted two girls and looted food items. They also razed down shops and took some livestock with them,” he added.

The attack on Mandaragirau and Ghuma villages came barely 24 hours after the insurgents attacked Kautiokari in Chibok LGA where they killed four people including a traditional leader.

Fulani Herdsmen Kill 36 Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria 

Anglican bishop laments government inaction.

Morning Star News

August 30, 2021

Fulani herdsmen killed 36 Christians in multiple attacks in Kaduna state, Nigeria this month with impunity, while a church leader complained that authorities arrested only Christians for defending themselves.

The attacks from Aug. 4 to Saturday (Aug. 28) on Zangon Kataf, Kaura and Chikun counties took the lives of 17 Christians in Doh (Mado) village, five in Madamai, eight in Buruku and Udawa, three in Machun and three in Goran Gida, residents said.

The attack on Machun village, Zangon Kataf County, on Thursday (Aug. 26) took place at 7 p.m., said area resident Judith David in a text message to Morning Star News.

“Fulani herdsmen have killed three of our Christians, and five other Christians were also injured,” she said. “It rained at the time the herdsmen invaded our village. We all had already gone to houses to sleep when the herdsmen attacked the village, forcing us to flee into the bush in the rain.”

Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna state commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, confirmed the killings in a press statement.

“Police personnel responded to a distress call from Machun village and mobilized there,” he said. “On arrival, they were also alerted by gunshots from neighboring Manuka. As the assailants fled the area, the operatives found the corpses of three victims.”

The Rev. Jacob Kwashi, Anglican bishop of Zonkwa Diocese, and residents of the affected communities said the assailants were Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

In Doh (Mado) village, Zangon Kataf county on Aug. 22, sources reported 17 Christians were killed.

“My hometown of Doh (Mado) is under attack from Fulani herdsmen,” village resident Patience Bilyock said a text message to Morning Star News. “O God, arise and fight for your children.”

Kwashi, while conducting a funeral service for the 17 Christians killed in the village, said the government was doing nothing as killings continued each day in Middle Belt states.

“We have never seen an evil government in this country like the one of today. The government is fully in support of the bloodshed in Nigeria. We are being killed just because we are not Muslims,” Kwashi said. “These evil Fulani jihadists are enjoying the backing of the government to go about killing people, destroying their houses and farmlands, yet when we try to defend ourselves, the government will go about arresting our people. What kind of justice is this?”

Aruwan, the Kaduna state spokesman, said of the attack on Doh village that the assailants fled on sighting the forces of the Nigerian army. He identified nine of the dead residents as Moses Dangana, Mary Dangana, Jummai Dangana, Jerry James, Happy James, Endurance Stephen, Comfort Emmanuel, Jummai Tanko and Mary Clement.

“One resident, Magdalene Dangoma, sustained gunshot injuries and is receiving treatment in a hospital,” Aruwan said. “Two houses were razed in the attack. The troops of Operation Safe Haven also rescued 12 persons who were fleeing from the attackers. Those rescued are Patrick Chindon, Joseph Agbon, Polymer Joseph, Amos Francis, Keziah Amos, Linda Jonathan, Asabe Jonathan, Jonathan James, Lamin Yohanna, Titi Emmanuel, Patricia Michael and Jetral Bala.”

On Aug. 16, herdsmen attacked Goran Gida village, also in Zangon Kataf county. Aruwan said three residents were killed: Amos Bulus, Bulus Swam and Simon Akut. A resident identified only as Kezia was wounded, and the assailants set a car on fire, he said.

In Madamai village, Kaura County, herdsmen attacked on Aug. 15 at 5 a.m., said area resident Polycarp Bala.

“Five Christians were killed in this attack by Fulani herdsmen,” Bala said.

Aruwan identified those killed as Janet Yakubu, Gambo Yakubu, Jonathan Adamu, Mrs. Monday and Humphrey Barnabas.

In Buruku and Udawa villages in Chikun County on Aug. 13, herdsmen killed eight Christians as they worked on their farms, residents said. Five Christian farmers were killed in Buruku village and three in Udawa village, area resident John Audu said.

“We are tired of the blood being shed on a daily basis here,” Audu said. “We need help.”

On Aug. in Magamiya village, armed herdsmen wounded one Christian.

“Christian by the name of Shedrach Yohanna was shot by the Fulani Herdsmen on his arm,” Maigamiya resident Jude Hassan said in a text message. Aruwan confirmed the attack and injury.

“Troops responded to a distress call, mobilized to the village and engaged the assailants and successfully repelled them,” Aruwan said.

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. 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.

In this year’s World Watch 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.

Nigeria: 140 more Christian children kidnapped

Jul 6th, 2021

Source: Release International

As gunmen kidnap more than 140 Christian schoolchildren in Nigeria, Release International is again urging the international community to call Nigeria to account over its appalling failure to protect its Christian minority in the north.

The gunmen, suspected to be Fulani militants, overcame security guards and forced their way into Bethel Baptist boarding school in Kaduna at 2am on Monday morning. They kidnapped most of 180 students who attend the school. A few managed to escape, according to reports.

The exact numbers of high school students abducted is still unknown. Estimates vary from 140 to 164.

News agency AFP says this is the fourth mass school kidnapping in Kaduna state since December. It's estimated that more Christians are kidnapped in Nigeria than any other country in the world.

"Our hearts and prayers go out for these kidnapped children and their parents. God knows what they are going through," says Paul Robinson, CEO of UK-based Release International, which supports persecuted Christians around the world.

"This appalling failure by Nigeria to protect its Christian citizens has to stop. The international community must compel Nigeria to effective action to protect its vulnerable Christian minority in the North against attacks from extremists."

The Nigerian government has blamed bandits for the growing numbers of kidnappings and attacks against its Christian population. But international observers recognise a religious dimension behind many of the attacks.

The most likely perpetrators are Fulani herdsmen, whose grazing land is being eroded by desertification.

"If so, by attacking Christians, they are following in the footsteps of Islamist militants, including Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West African Province)," says Paul Robinsonl.

The declared aim of Boko Haram is to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state. It has ordered its supporters to kill Christians.

"By attacking Christians in the north and middle belts of Nigeria, the Fulani militants are serving the same jihadist agenda as these Islamist terror groups. And the Nigerian government is simply not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens who are under attack. Pressure must be brought to bear on Nigeria from the international community." Robinson added. 

Three recent reports confirm the growing spread of violence against Christians in Nigeria.

According to the Nigerian NGO Intersociety, in the four months from January to April 2021 Nigeria 'lost no fewer than 1,470 Christians… the highest number recorded since 2014'.

And separate reports by the US State Department and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) singled out Nigeria as a 'country of particular concern for tolerating severe violations of religious freedom'.

According to Intersociety, 2,200 Nigerian Christians were abducted between January and April this year. Of those 220 are believed to have been murdered. Intersociety say Fulani militants killed more than 800 Christians, in a conflict often simplistically characterised as clashes over resources between herders and farmers.

According to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief there is a religious dimension behind the growing violence against Christians in the North and Middle Belts of Nigeria. It says Fulani militants have adopted 'a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province], and demonstrated a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity.'

That religious dimension is reiterated in the 2021 Annual Report of the USCIRF. It notes that Boko Haram fighters beheaded the local chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa State because he refused to renounce his faith, while ISWAP fighters executed five aid workers as a warning to "all those being used by infidels to convert Muslims to Christianity".

And in a separate report, the US State Department cites Nigerian Minister of Culture Lai Mohammed, who declared Boko Haram and ISIS fighters 'have started targeting Christians and Christian villages... to trigger a religious war and throw the nation into chaos.'

The US State Department also quotes the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Reverend Samson Ayokunle, who warns Fulani militants and others share 'a goal to Islamise Nigeria'.

Release International is concerned about attempts to simplify and reduce the causes of conflict to little more than a tussle over resources.

"To characterise this as just a farmer/herder conflict is a gross over-simplification," says Paul Robinson.

"Boko Haram has publicly called for the killing of Christians and stated its aim to Islamie the whole of Nigeria. Fulani militants are now killing more Christians than Boko Haram fighters. In so doing, they appear to be serving the same Islamist agenda.

"This has been going on for far too long. How many more innocent men, women and children need to suffer before something is done? The world must wake up to what is happening in the most populous nation in Africa."

Release International is active in some 25 countries around the world, supporting pastors, Christian prisoners and their families; supplying Christian literature and Bibles, and working for justice.

Herdsmen Attacks Kill 37 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria

Pastor says terrorists roam freely in presence of security personnel.

May 26, 2021 

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Sunday (May 23) killed 14 Christians in a village near Jos, Plateau state and eight others in another village, sources said.

Herdsmen attacked Kwi village, Riyom County, near Jos, at about 11 p.m., said area resident Solomon Mandiks, a Christian rights activist.

“Fourteen Christians were butchered to death, including children,” Mandiks told Morning Star News in a text message. “Eight members of one family have all been killed. This is beside an additional six other Christians killed by the herdsmen in the village.”

Earlier that night in Dong village, Jos North County, armed herdsmen attacking at 8 p.m. killed eight Christians, area residents said. Asabe Samuel, 60-year-old member of the local Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) congregation, said in an interview at her home that a large number of herdsmen invaded as residents were about to go to sleep.

“I was by the central area of the village, which has shops and serves as a market, when I heard Fulani gunmen shooting around my house,” Samuel told Morning Star News. “This forced us to run to hide.”

As the sounds of gunshot were coming from the direction of her house, others advised her not to return home, she said.

“I still rushed to my house, and just as I was getting closer to my house, I found that one Istifanus Shehu, 40, a member of COCIN [Church of Christ in Nations] who has had mental health challenges, was shot dead, and his corpse was lying beside my house,” Samuel said. “We heard the attackers retreating and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar [Allah is greater].’ The herdsmen were also communicating with themselves in the Fulani language.”

After they retreated, residents found eight Christians were killed in attacks on four houses, she said. Besides Shehu, she identified those slain as Ruth Adamu, 20, an ECWA member; Naomi Adamu, 40, of the ECWA; Friday Danladi Riya, 22, of the ECWA; Awuki Matthew, 28, Catholic; Gospel Matthew, 4, Catholic; PraiseGod Matthew, 2, Catholic; and one identified only as Chinyere of St. Jude’s Anglican  Church.

“Awuki Matthew was killed alongside her two daughters, Gospel Matthew and PraiseGod Matthew, leaving behind her husband, who’s blind,” she said. “Who will care for this blind man, and how will he cope with life without his wife and children?”

Monday Auta, an ECWA member and her neighbor, was shot in his shoulder and was receiving hospital treatment, she said, adding that Ruth Adamu and daughter Naomi Adamu were her neighbors and members of her ECWA church.

The late Shehu’s sister, Jummai Shehu, a 32-year-old COCIN member, said her brother was visiting the house of Samuel, where they once lived.

“The armed Fulani herdsmen spotted him and shot him dead,” she said, weeping. “I feel very sad about the way my brother was killed in cold blood. Why must we live in fear every day, not knowing the evil that awaits us as Christians in this country?”

The pastor of the ECWA church in Dong, Jonathan Kyoomnom Bala, said police did not show up until 10 a.m. the next day.

“Some government officials came also this morning only at 10 a.m.,” Pastor Bala told Morning Star News. “These herdsmen carried out the attack on us for about 40 minutes and left without intervention from soldiers or the police.”

Security agencies’ lack of action was concerning, he said.

“While the attack was going on, I phoned one of the security agents, and he told me they were doing something about it, but they did nothing,” Pastor Bala said. “It’s traumatic to witness such deadly incidents of this nature.

“Last week the herdsmen were here in the community roaming around without restraint by security agents stationed around the community, and yet, even in the presence of soldiers and police personnel, the attackers invaded the community and embarked on a killing spree. And some of the attackers are known to be terrorists who have been brought in from other countries to collaborate with the herdsmen to attack Christians.”

As a pastor, he said, he has wondered why the violence goes unchecked.

“Throughout last night I couldn’t sleep because members I minister to were killed in gruesome manner, and for not committing any crimes except being Christians,” Pastor Bala told Morning Star News. “Has it now become a crime to profess Jesus Christ?”

Many Christians have been displaced as a result of this attack, adversely affecting ministry there, he said.

“What the Nigerian government should note is that when the people have lost faith in security agencies and are forced to resort to self-help to defend themselves, there’ll be anarchy in the land,” he said.

The pastor listed churches affected by herdsmen attacks in the area as the ECWA, COCIN, Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, Baptist Church, Assemblies of God Church, Living Faith Church, and The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

April Attacks

Prior attacks in Plateau state in April took the lives of at least 15 other Christians.

Herdsmen on April 30 attacked Ta-Hoss village, Riyom County, killing Emmanuel Joshua, a 32-year-old Christian, rights advocate Mandiks said.

Irmiya James, a leader of the Christian community in the village, told Mandiks that he received a distress call at 3 p.m. that Fulani had shot dead a Christian on Tahoss-Ganawuri Road.

“On getting to the scene, we found Mr. Emmanuel Joshua in a pool of blood, and his motorcycle was taken away by the Fulani assailants,” James told Mandiks.

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.

Boko Haram Kills at Least 43 Farmworkers in Nigeria, Militia Says

By Agence France-Presse

November 28, 2020

MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA - Boko Haram fighters killed at least 43 farmworkers and injured six in rice fields near the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Saturday, anti-jihadist militia told AFP.

The assailants tied up the agricultural workers and slit their throats in the village of Koshobe, the militia said.

"We have recovered 43 dead bodies, all of them slaughtered, along with six others with serious injuries," said militia leader Babakura Kolo, who helped the survivors.

"It is no doubt the handiwork of Boko Haram, who operate in the area and frequently attack farmers."

The victims were laborers from Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria, roughly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away, who had traveled to the northeast to find work, said Ibrahim Liman, another militiaman who gave the same toll.

"There were 60 farmers who were contracted to harvest ... the rice fields. Forty-three were slaughtered, with six injured," Liman said.

Eight others were missing, presumed to have been kidnapped by the jihadists, he said.

The bodies were taken to Zabarmari village, two kilometers away, where they would be kept ahead of burial Sunday, said resident Mala Bunu, who took part in the search-and-rescue operation.

Last month, Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working in their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate incidents.

Boko Haram and ISWAP, its IS-linked rival, have increasingly targeted loggers, herders and fishermen in their violent campaign, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.

At least 36,000 people have been killed in the jihadist conflict, which has displaced around 2 million people since 2009.

The violence has also spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.

The attack took place as voters went to the polls in local elections in Borno State.

The elections had been repeatedly postponed because of an increase in attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP.

Boko Haram kills at least 110 civilians in this year’s 'most violent direct' attack

By Anugrah Kumar

Christian Post 

NOVEMBER 30, 2020 

Armed men on motorcycles, believed to be from the Boko Haram terrorist group, killed at least 110 farmworkers in rice fields in Nigeria’s conflict-hit Borno state. A United Nations official called it “the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year.”

“I am outraged and horrified by the gruesome attack against civilians,” Edward Kallon, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said about the assault in the village of Koshobe and other rural communities near the northeast city of Maiduguri on Saturday, according to Bloomberg.

“At least 110 civilians were ruthlessly killed and many others were wounded in this attack,” the official said.

Kallon feared that several women may have been kidnapped.

“I call for the perpetrators of this heinous and senseless act to be brought to justice,” he added.

Boko Haram and its faction, the Islamic State in West Africa Province, are known to be active in the area.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the killing of “our hard-working farmers by terrorists in Borno state,” according to Al Jazeera.

“The entire country,” he said, “is hurt by these senseless killings.”

Dozens of the bodies were taken a little more than a mile away to Zabarmari village for burial on Sunday, a resident Mala Bunu, who took part in the search-and-rescue operation, told AFP.

Earlier this month, suspected Boko Haram men reportedly killed 12 Christians, including a pastor, and kidnapped nine women and young girls in an attack in the same state, Morning Star News, a nonprofit news organization that covers global Christian persecution, reported.

Boko Haram is one of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups as it has engaged in its insurgency in northeast Nigeria and the Lake Chad region for over a decade. The group has killed and abducted thousands of people over the years.

The United Nations estimates that over 3.4 million people in Nigeria have been displaced due to the Islamic extremist violence in the northeast and violence in the country’s Middle Belt carried out by radicals from the herding community. The U.N.’s tally includes 2.7 million people who have been displaced because of extremist violence in the country’s northeast.

At least 121 Christians dead in spate of savage Fulani militant attacks in Nigeria

Barnabas Fund

August 3, 2020

In a spate of Fulani militant attacks in July on predominantly Christian villages in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria, at least 121 people were killed and thousands displaced.

The spree of bloodshed began on 10 July with a three-day onslaught on the Chibob farming community in Gora wardthat left 22 dead. Then Fulani militants struck in attacks in Kauru local government area that saw at least 38 murdered in Kagoro town in the week of 19 July, with 32 killed in Kukum Daji and Gora Gan in separate attacks.

On 22 July, armed with knives and machetes, Fulani militants broke into homes in the mainly-Christian village of Kizachi, southern Kaduna State, murdering three children and two young people.

Those killed in Kizachi were: 

Kefas Monday, 17

Lydia Monday, 14

Jummai, 9 

Giwa Thomas, 14

Living Yohanna, 27

In a horrific night attack during a torrential rain storm on 23 July, at least seven Christians died in Doka Avong Village, Kaduna State, as militants brutally hacked unarmed men and women and children to death with machetes.

This was the second attack on the village within days, with seven murdered in an attack days earlier on 20 July. 

At the time of writing, some injured survivors remain in critical condition in hospital. Many others are reported missing.

The attackers also burnt out a number of homes. 

Those killed in Doka Avong were:

John Mallam, 80

Albarka Mallam, 85

Jumare Sule, 76

Hannatu Garba, 55

Thaddeus Albarka, 32

Luvinus Danmori, 52  

Daniel Mukadas, 70

On 24 July, in the town of Zipak also in Kaduna State, at least ten Christians died, ranging from five-years-old to 75, in a Fulani militant attack. The militants’ spree of looting, vandalism and arson concluded with the brutal murders, despite the presence of army, police and paramilitary units stationed just a mile away. 

Those killed in Zipak were:

Joel Cephas, 5

Kingsley Raphael, 28

Katung Kantiock, 60

Luka Garba, 75

Victor Ishaya, 22

Madam Dakaci, 52

Kuyet Yayock, 25

Cecelia Audu, 65

Matina Dauda, 70

Yanasan Dauda, 70

A curfew was imposed across Jemma Local Government Area after the Zipak raid. But the Fulani militants returned on 25 July to terrorise the shocked community as it mourned those murdered the previous day. 

Islamic militants kill at least 60 people in north-east Nigeria

The attack in Borno state follows the massacre of 69 villagers in a raid in the same area

Reuters

Sat 13 Jun 2020

Islamic militants have killed at least 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians and injured hundreds in twin attacks in north-east Nigeria, residents and a civilian task force fighter said.

The attacks, in the Monguno and Nganzai districts of Borno state, came just days after militants killed at least 69 people in a raid on a village in a third area, Gubio.

Two humanitarian workers and three residents told Reuters that militants armed with heavy weaponry including rocket launchers arrived in Monguno, a hub for international non-governmental organisations, at roughly 11am local time. They overran government forces, taking some casualties but killing at least 20 soldiers and roaming the area for three hours.

The sources said hundreds of civilians were injured in the crossfire, overwhelming the local hospital and forcing some of the injured to lay outside the facility awaiting help.

The sources said the militants also set fire to the local police station and burned down the United Nations’ humanitarian hub in the area, although a UN spokesperson said the facility sustained only light damage.

Fighters distributed letters to residents, in the local Hausa language, warning them not to work with the military, white Christian westerners or other “non-believers”.

Militants also entered Nganzai at about the same time on Saturday, according to two residents and one Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) fighter. They arrived on motorcycles and in pickup trucks and killed more than 40 residents, the sources said.

A military spokesman did not answer calls for comment on the attacks. UN officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria. ISWAP claimed the two Saturday attacks, and the Gubio attack.

81 killed in bloody Boko Haram attack in Nigerian village

By Bukola Adebayo and Isaac Abrak, CNN

Wed June 10, 2020

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)At least 81 people were killed in an attack on a village by suspected Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria, the Borno state government said in a statement released to CNN Wednesday.

Residents said the men attacked the village in armored tanks and trucks filled with guns, according to the government's statement. 

Seven people, including the village head, children and women, were abducted from the Faduma Kolomdi community, described as a nomadic town in northern Borno. 

Residents reported that the men gathered the villagers on Tuesday morning and started shooting in the incident which lasted several hours.

One of the villagers who survived the onslaught told the authorities that the attackers came under the cover of being Islamic teachers. 

"They gathered us and said they wanted to deliver religious sermon to us. They asked us to submit whatever arm we had. Some villagers gave up their ... guns, bow, and arrows. 

"Suddenly, they started shooting at will. Even children and women were not spared, Many were shot at close range," the man, who was not named, said in the statement. 

"We have buried 49 corpses here while another 32 corpses were taken away by families from the villages around us. 

"The insurgents abducted seven persons, including our village head. They went away with 400 cattle," the man added.

Tuesday's attack involving women and children was carried out by Boko Haram and ISWAP, or Islamic State West Africa Province, members operating terrorist sleeper cells in communities in the area, Nigeria military spokesman Sagir Musa said in a statement.

A large number of troops have also been sent to the area to bolster the military's response to the attack, the army said. 

"The Nigerian Army is committed to investigating the circumstances of these callous attacks by desperate Boko Haram criminals and the bandits on innocent civilians," Musa said.

The villagers accounts were corroborated by former district head Zanna Gubio who told CNN he transported some of the victims to the hospital with his vehicle. 

He said the attacks happened on Tuesday morning when some of the herders were feeding their cattle and the militants summoned them from the fields."My people were feeding their cattle when Boko Haram ask them to gather together, and then they started shooting them, they burial lasted for the whole night to the early hours of this morning," he added.

Borno state governor Babagana Zulum visited the village on Wednesday and called on the Nigerian army to strengthen its operations to put an end to the militants' onslaught on border communities in the state.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 3 million people have been displaced during the more than a decade-long Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria's northeast.

The group's fighters have unleashed carnage, burning mosques, communities and attacking military outposts in the region. 

More than 30 travelers were killed when Boko Haram militants set fire to vehicles at a roadblock in Auno town in Borno state in February.

350 Nigerian Christians killed in first 2 months of 2020: NGO report

Group estimates at least 11,500 Nigerian Christians killed since June 2015

Christian Post

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020

A Nigerian civil society organization claims that no fewer than 350 Christians have been killed across the West African country since the start of 2020 and estimates that about 11,500 Christians have been killed since 2015. 

“Nigeria has fully become a killing field of defenseless Christians,” the Anambra-based nongovernmental organization International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) said this week in a new special report, titled “Nigeria: A Killing Field Of Defenseless Christians.” 

“Available statistics have shown that between 11,500 and 12,000 Christian deaths were recorded in the past 57 months or since June 2015 when the present central government of Nigeria came on board. Out of this figure, Jihadist Fulani herdsmen accounted for 7,400 Christian deaths, Boko Haram 4,000 and the ‘Highway Bandits’ 150-200.”

The organization, which is headed by Christian criminologist Emeka Umeagbalasi, has monitored violence against Christians in Nigeria since 2010 through a team of criminologists, lawyers, journalists, security, and peace and conflict studies graduates.

Nigeria has been marred by violence in the last decade-plus due to the rise of extremist organizations in the northeast like Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province. 

In recent years, massacres carried out by radicalized Fulani herders against predominantly Christian farming villages in Nigeria’s Middle Belt have also driven communities from their homes.

Additionally, bandit gangs have been responsible for carrying out kidnappings along some major highways.

The United Nations estimates that about 2 million people have been internally displaced across Nigeria and 11 million people in need of assistance. An additional 550,000 are said to be displaced in neighboring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. 

“While 100 percent of the victims of Jihadist Herdsmen attacks across Nigeria are Christians, the estimated 4,000 Christians killed by Boko Haram were part of the estimated 6,000 [people in total] massacred by the sect since June 2015,” the report explains. 

“Generally, many, if not most of the victims of Boko Haram/ISWAP attacks in Nigeria’s Northeast are Christians. On the part of ‘Bandits/Highway Kidnappers’ in Northern Nigeria, most of their rural victims are Muslims while many, if not most, of their roadside victims are Christians traveling to northern or southern parts of the country using the Birnin-Gwari Federal Road, near Kaduna, etc.” 

For its monitoring and documentation, Intersociety relies on what it deems to be credible local and foreign media reports, government accounts, international rights groups, eyewitness accounts and reports from various Christian bodies in the country. 

Intersociety reports that Fulani herdsmen accounted for 250 of the 350 deaths recorded in January and February 2020 while Boko Haram and highway bandit gangs are responsible for 100 deaths. 

In the past two months, Intersociety reports that radical Fulani militants have carried out attacks in Nasarawa, Adamawa and Edo in addition to some other locations throughout the country. 

Last year, Intersociety reported that no fewer than 2,400 Christians were killed by Fulani radicals in 2018. In 2019, according to the group, between 1,000 to 1,200 Christians were killed by Fulani attackers. 

While reports have indicated an increase in deadly Boko Haram attacks beginning in December 2019, Intersociety noted that Boko Haram attacks targeting Christians since January 2020 intensified in Borno, Adamawa and Taraba States.

“[The attacks are] claiming between 50 and 70 Christian lives and loss of churches and other buildings belonging to Christians,” the report explains, adding that Boko Haram was responsible for killing at least 1,000 citizens in 2019. 

Additionally, between 100 and 150 Christian travelers were said to have been abducted on highways since the beginning of the year. 

“The killings targeted at Christians in Nigeria have continued into the first week of March 2020 leading to hacking to death of over a dozen more,” the report reads. “Among the worst hit in the latest round of Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacks are Plateau State with 70-80 deaths, Kaduna [with] 50 deaths, Kogi [with] 30 deaths, Benue [with] 15-20, Delta [with] 16 and Taraba [with] 10.”

In the past 57 months, no fewer than 20 clergymen (including eight Catholic priests and seminarians) have been hacked to death, while no less than 50 were abducted or kidnapped, Intersociety reported.

Earlier this year, Boko Haram kidnapped and then executed the Rev. Lawan Andimi, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria’s chapter in the Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa state.  

Other slain religious leaders killed in Nigeria in the past 12 months include the Revs. Clement Ugwu and Paul Offu. 

Intersociety also estimated that over 2,000 churches and Christian worship centers have been burned since June 2015, with Fulani herdsmen being responsible for about 1,500 and Boko Haram accounting for 500. 

Churches in Benue, Plateau and southern Kaduna states were among the most targeted by Fulani radicals. 

“In eight years, between 2011 and 2019, Benue State had lost 600 churches and other Christian worship centers to Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen," the report states.

Intersociety’s claim that most of the people killed by Boko Haram are Christian contradicts data given out by Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari in early February. 

In an op-ed, Buhari stated that “90 percent of all Boko Haram’s victims have been Muslims.” Buhari claimed that the “now-failing terrorists have targeted the vulnerable, the religious, the non-religious, the young and the old without discrimination.”

However, weeks later, a member of the Nigerian government, Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed, acknowledged that terrorists are focusing their attacks on Christians, noting that in the past, that was not the case. 

"They have started targeting Christians and Christian villages for a specific reason, which is to trigger a religious war and throw the nation into chaos," he said while distancing the perpetrators from Muslims and noting that Muslims have also been victimized.

Death toll statistics in Nigeria can vary depending on which organization is providing them because of the lack of adequate government record-keeping, International Committee on Nigeria co-founder Stephen Enada previously told The Christian Post. 

Enada, who fled to the United States in 2016 after his cousin was killed by Fulani radicals, believes that reported death tolls should be construed as nothing more than estimations. 

“When you talk about data mining statistics, Nigeria doesn’t even have a national data record to even say [what is] our population,” Enada explained at the time. “So sometimes, if somebody is killed, you don’t even have a way to trace a person to his family outside his community because we don’t have data.”

“Because we don’t have such data, it is very complicated. Sometimes, when people are killed, they will just do a mass burial where there is no autopsy, post mortem, no record. If you go to these communities, you will see that they don’t have any record for the people who died. That is what we are working with.”

Last November, the U.K.-based NGO Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust estimated after a fact-finding mission that at least 1,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria from January 2019 until November 2019.

HART, founded by Parliament member Baroness Caroline Cox, estimated that at least 6,000 Christians were killed since 2015. 

A HART spokesperson clarified to CP that the 1,000-deaths estimation counts “predominantly people killed in Plateau, Southern Kaduna and Taraba states by Fulani Herdsmen” but also includes some killings by Boko Haram in Borno state.

The HART spokesperson added that the estimation was partly based on reports from the Kaduna state government and reports from the Plateau state. HART's estimations also include Boko Haram’s killing of security officers and soldiers believed to be Christians. 

Violence in Plateau State, Nigeria Escalates with more Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Attacks

At least 32 Christians killed in assaults this week. 

January 30, 2020 

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – At least 32 people were killed and a pastor’s house and church building were burned down in two nights of attacks this week by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Plateau state, Nigeria, sources said.

The Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) building and home were destroyed in an attack on predominantly Christian Marish village on Monday evening (Jan. 27), one of three communities in Bokkos County hit in armed assaults that began the previous evening, area residents said. The attacks were the latest bloodshed in an escalation of violence in Plateau state, where herdsmen killed Christians in Riyom and Mangu counties earlier this month.

Herdsmen killed 17 people in Marish and Ruboi villages on Monday after killing 15 people in an attack on Kwatas on Sunday (Jan. 26), Titus Ayuba Alams, former speaker of the Plateau state House of Assembly, told Morning Star News.

“The attacks took place between the hours of 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. on Kwatas on Sunday, and also on Monday within the same time frame on Ruboi and Marish by the herdsmen,” Alam said.

Five people were wounded in the attacks and several houses were burned, area resident Theophilus Mancha told Morning Star News.

“A pregnant woman and 16 others have been killed,” Mancha said.

Kwatas, Marish and Ruboi are suburbs of Bokkos town, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of Plateau State University, Bokkos.

Kelly Kanang, another area resident, confirmed that Fulani herdsmen launched the attacks.

Benjamin Dogo of Kwatas informed Morning Star News in a text message, “Our people have been killed again. About 15 of the dead have been evacuated to the mortuary along with many others that sustained injuries during the attack on Sunday night.”

State police said 13 persons were killed and five injured in the attack on Kwatas. Police spokesman Ubah Gabriel Ogaba on Monday confirmed the attack by “unknown gunmen” on Kwatas in a press statement.

Ruboi and Marish were attacked after police issued the statement, and officers have provided no details on those attacks.

Plateau Gov. Simon Lalong condemned the attacks on the Christian communities in a statement through press spokesman Makut Macham.

“My heart again bleeds by this tragedy as lives of innocent citizens are cut short for no reason,” reads the statement issued on Monday. “Security agencies must go after those who are behind these attacks and their sponsors so they can face the law and be taught a lesson.”

Sen. Istifanus Gyang, deputy chairman of the Nigerian Senate Committee on Defense, said attacks on the Christian communities raise questions on the readiness of security agencies to protect people against herdsmen onslaughts.

“Only last week, Kombun village in Mangu LGA was attacked and now, it is Kwatas, Marish, and Ruboi villages in neighboring Bokkos LGA,” he said.

Nigeria ranked 12th on Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution but second in the number of Christians killed for their faith, behind Pakistan.

30 Killed in Northeast Nigeria Bomb Blast on Crowded Bridge

By Reuters

January 06, 2020 

At least 30 people were killed in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno after an improvised explosive device detonated on a bridge, sources told Reuters on Monday.

The bomb detonated at roughly 5 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on a crowded bridge in the market town of Gamboru that leads into neighboring Cameroon.

Witnesses in the market town said more than 35 injured people were taken to the local hospital following the attack.

"It is an unfortunate day for us to witness this frustrating and devastating incident in our community," eyewitness Modu Ali Said told Reuters.

"I just heard a loud sound of explosions, before I realized I saw many of our friends and colleagues were killed," Said added.

Two sources with the Civilian Joint Task Force, a group of citizens formed to fight Boko Haram, confirmed the attack and the early death toll estimates.

No group immediately took responsibility. Both Boko Haram and the regional offshoot of Islamic State, known as ISWAP, are active in the area.

More than 6,000 Christians killed by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria since 2015, 1000 in last year alone: Reports

The reports published on 18 November titled "Your Land or Your Body" mentioned that more than 6,000 Christians have been killed and 12,000 displaced by members of the Fulani ethnic group since 2015. 

DECEMBER 26, 2019

Opindia

In a shocking revelation, more than 6,000 Christians have been brutally murdered in the last four years and 1,000 of them in last year alone by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria, reports Fox News.

According to a report circulated by Christian news outlets, more than 1,000 Christians have been killed by Fulani herdsmen fuelled by Islamist ideology in the last year in Nigeria.

The Islamic terrorist group named Fulani herdsmen have murdered Christians as part of an aggressive and strategic land-grabbing strategy across the Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and parts of Bauchi state, said Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), a British not for profit organisation.

The reports published on 18 November titled “Your Land or Your Body” mentioned that more than 6,000 Christians have been killed and 12,000 displaced by Islamic terrorists, members of the Fulani ethnic group since 2015 in Nigeria.

“They attack rural villages, force villagers off their lands and settle in their place — a strategy that is epitomized by the phrase: ‘Your land or your blood”. In every village, the message from local people is the same: ‘Please, please help us! The Fulani are coming. We are not safe in our own homes’,” the report read.

Nomadic Fulani herdsmen seek to replace diversity and difference with an Islamist ideology which is imposed with violence on those who refuse to comply. It is genocide according to the Nigerian House of Representatives, said Baroness Cox, member of House of Lords, who runs the non-profit organisation.

“Something has to change — urgently,” said Cox. “For the longer, we tolerate these massacres, the more we embolden the perpetrators. We give them a ‘green light’ to carry on killing,” he added.

As the population in the Sahara Desert continues to expand, there is increasing tension over land-scarcity and the predominantly Christian communities remain an easy target of land-grabbing attacks. Christians are also being targeted and killed by Boko Haram, a jihad terrorist group.

Reportedly, the Fulani herdsmen are responsible for the majority of the Christian deaths in Nigeria in 2019. About half of the Christian deaths this year occurred in five separate attacks in Kaduna between January and November, the report said.

“The attacks have, on occasion, led to retaliatory violence, as communities conclude that they can no longer rely on the government for protection or justice,” the report said.

65 Dead in Boko Haram Attack at Funeral

AUGUST 1, 2019

CNN

ABUJA, NIGERIA – The latest accounts say that some 65 people in Maiduguri, Nigeria, have died in a Boko Haram attack during a funeral in the northeastern village. Another 10 people reportedly sustained injuries, eight of who are in critical condition following Saturday’s attack.

Boko Haram was initially known as the “Nigerian Taliban” when it came into prominence in 2002. The words “Boko Haram” are from the Hausu dialect. They mean, “Western education is forbidden.” The name itself is another indication of the growing nationalistic resistance to the imperialism and colonialism that, by and large, ceased more than half-a-century ago.

According to CNN, the group refers to itself as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, meaning “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.” That title, rarely heard or seen in the media, carries a sinister connotation that is more descriptive of its intent as it attacks, captures, tortures, and murders innocent villagers.

In fact, the group has no apparent political affiliation. Rather, it is an independent terrorist group opposed to any government outside of Sharia law.

A local militia leader told Al Jazeera correspondents that the terrorists attacked a group of mourners at a gravesite, killing 23 of them. The other 42 who perished were among a group of villagers who attempted to pursue the attackers.

Despite their best efforts, the villagers were outnumbered and ill-equipped. The people in Maiduguri and other villages have attempted to arm themselves as local militias to protect their neighbors. The loss of life suffered in this incident may lead some to despair that the terrorists are insuperable.

The creation of local militias has stemmed from the inability of Nigerian government forces to subdue and control Boko Haram. The terrorist group has murdered 27,000 people over the past decade. More than two million people remain displaced, having fled the areas where the terrorists have been most active.

Last year, Missions Box News published the story of Leah Sharibu, a Christian schoolgirl who had been one of 100 that Boko Haram had abducted. Her captors told her they would release her once she renounced Jesus Christ. Because she did not, she remained captive while the others were released.

Although the terrorists swore they would not harm Leah, a recently released employee of Action Against Hunger, who had also been captured, indicated that Leah had been killed following an escape attempt. Authorities have not yet been able to confirm this story.

We encourage our readers to pray for those who are persecuted around the globe. Pray especially for the people of Nigeria, and that many would come to Christ as a result of the oppression they are suffering. Pray for the families who lost loved ones in Saturday’s attack. Plead with the God of Mercy to demonstrate His compassion for these people.

Muslim Extremists Murder Over 30 Nigerian Christians In Devastating Attack

Daily Wire

March 1, 2019

Over 30 Nigerian Christians were killed in a brutal early morning attack by radical Islamic Fulani herdsmen, who have been systematically targeting believers living on lands the extremists claim to be their territory.

The Guardian reports that the deadly assault occurred at around 4 a.m. near the town of Maro, in Kajuru County of Kaduna state, where the attackers set fire to several buildings, including homes and churches. The extremists shot civilians with rifles as they fled the burning establishments.

A member of local church Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) told Morning Star News that members “ran out of the church building as the shooting was going on.” She added, “Many have been killed, and I have not seen my family members since morning. I have escaped out of the area.”

Some villagers and local policemen tried to resist the radical Muslim assault but were forced to retreat as the attackers overwhelmed them by sheer numbers and firepower.

Kaduna’s local state government condemned the attack in a statement from Samuel Aruwan, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor.

“Today, the Kaduna State government was briefed by security agencies of renewed attacks in Kajuru Local Government Area, and in parts of neighboring Kachia Local Government Area,” he said. “The state government has been assured that the security agencies are working assiduously to contain the situation. The government is saddened by these attacks, condemns the perpetrators and urges all residents of the area to support the security agencies in their efforts to protect communities.”

The violence was so severe that a nearby boarding school administered by the Evangelical Missionary Society (EMS) evacuated to protect the children.

“We evacuated about hundred EMS kids from Kufana for safety,” explained school director Bakari Ibrahim to Morning Star News. “Many of our missionaries working among the Kadara tribe and some in Katari areas have been displaced. Please keep praying for our nation.”

Kaduna governor Aminu Tambuwal expressed sadness for the victims and called for more security in the Kajuru and Kachia counties to protect “people’s lives and property.”

The state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria Kaduna chapter Reverend Joseph Hayap said of the attack: “We have appealed to the youths in the area that there must never be any reprisal. We want to give the security operatives in the state the benefit of the doubt to go after the killers. We don’t want any reprisal attack because the circle of violence and killings will continue.”

Nigeria has been facing growing unrest as radical Islamic terrorist groups, including the Fulani herdsmen, have been ramping up attacks on Christians, who make up about 51% of the population.

In September 2018, Islamic extremists raided Christian homes and murdered 11 civilians in a brutal assault in the city of Jos, the capital city of the Plateau State of the African nation.

"When the Fulani herdsmen came, they shot into the house randomly, breaking and forcing their way into rooms, shooting defenseless women and children and anyone in sight," a survivor said at the time.

Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors ranks Nigeria high on the "World Watch List," sitting at number 12 just below Syria.

Boko Haram Killed At Least 60 People in Attack in Nigeria, Amnesty International Reports

By AMELIA NIERENBERG / AP

February 1, 2019

(DAKAR, Senegal) — Boko Haram has killed at least 60 people in a “devastating” attack on the northeastern Nigeria border town of Rann, Amnesty International said Friday, calling it one of the deadliest assaults by the extremist group in its nearly decade-long insurgency.

Fighters on motorcycles drove through the town near the Cameroon border on Monday morning, setting houses on fire and killing people left behind, the international rights group said in a series of Twitter posts. The fighters also chased residents fleeing the “massive attack” and killed several outside town.

Amnesty published satellite imagery that it said showed “hundreds of burned structures.” Many likely served as shelters for displaced people who had arrived in recent months seeking protection. Most of Rann is “now destroyed,” the group said.

The attack came as Nigeria faces what it has called an extremist resurgence, posing a serious challenge for President Muhammadu Buhari as he seeks re-election in two weeks’ time. His administration once claimed Boko Haram had been “crushed” or “technically defeated,” while the military has faced questions over low morale and support.

Rann also was attacked in mid-January, sending at least 9,000 people fleeing to Cameroon, according to aid agencies. More than 30,000 joined them across the border in late January, the United Nations refugee agency said. Thousands more fled to nearby Chad, the refugee agency said.

“Many people were in a state of shock and were clearly distressed by what they had witnessed. Now they have lost all that they have and need absolutely everything,” Hugues Robert, the Nigeria program director for Doctors Without Borders, said following the mid-January attack.

A nurse with the medical charity said the normally bustling town was “like a graveyard” following that attack. “There was still smoke drifting in the sky and the fires were still burning in places,” Isa Sadq Bwala said. “All that’s left are piles of ashes.”

Far-flung Rann has played a tragic role in Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram. In January 2017, Nigeria’s air force mistakenly launched an airstrike on a refugee camp in the town because it said the camp was not appropriately marked as a humanitarian base on its maps. Officials and community leaders said between 100 and 236 people were killed.

In March of last year, three workers for United Nations agencies were among 11 people killed in a Boko Haram attack on a military base in Rann.

Three health workers were abducted. Two have since been killed despite urgent pleas from the aid community to spare their lives.

118 soldiers reportedly killed, 153 others missing following Boko Haram attack

According to reports, wounded soldiers have also been evacuated to Borno for treatment.

Published: 24.11.2018

Chika Ebuzor

The number of soldiers who were killed during the recent Boko Haram attack has reportedly increased to 118.

Premium Times reports that a source in the Nigerian Army said that 153 others are yet to be accounted for.

On Monday, November 19, 2018, the terrorists invaded a military base in Metele village, Guzamala local government area of Borno State.

According to Premium Times, soldiers who were wounded during the attack have also been evacuated to Borno for treatment.

Army responds

While responding to reports in the media, the Nigerian Army issued a statement saying that the number of casualties published on social media is false.

It also described the videos being shared online as old and inaccurate, adding that they are propaganda materials put out by Boko haram.

An excerpt of the statement reads: ” It is important for the public to note that the NA has laid down procedures for reporting incidents that involve its personnel who fall casualty in action. Out of respect for the families of our gallant troops, the NOKs(Next of Kins) are first notified before any form of public information so as to avoid exacerbating the grief family members would bear, were they to discover such from unofficial sources.

“Furthermore, it suffices to observe that several social media, print and online publications have been brandishing false casualty figures as well as circulating various footages of old and inaccurate BHT propaganda videos and alluding same to be the attack on 157 Task Force Battalion.

“Whilst it is understandable how such misinformation can spread in this era of social media frenzy, the spurious circulation of some of these videos only contribute to further propagate the propaganda intent of the terrorists; to misinform the populace and portray themselves as what they are not. So far, the situation is that the location is under control as reinforcing units have been able to repel the terrorists and stabilise the situation.”

The recent killing of soldiers by Boko Haram has been condemned by several Nigerians on social media.

Most of them also called out the Federal Government for keeping quiet about the issue.

President Buhari has however asked the Minister of Defence, retired Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali, to meet with the Chadian President, Idris Deby over the deterioration of security at the Nigeria – Chad border.

Dozens of Christians Killed in Muslim Attack on Market in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Church building set on fire in assault that escalated, residents say.

October 22, 2018

Morning Star News

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslims attacked a market in Kaduna state, in north-central Nigeria, on Thursday (Oct. 18), killing dozens of Christians and burning a church building, sources said.

Area residents said a Muslim at the market in Kasuwan Magani, 36 kilometers (22 miles) south of the city of Kaduna, began yelling “Thief!” in the late afternoon in a move calculated to cause pandemonium ahead of an attack on Christians and their homes and businesses.

“A Muslim raised a false alarm about a thief in the market, which caused stampede, and then other Muslims started chanting ‘Allahu Akbar [the jihadist slogan, God is Greater],’ attacking Christians, burning houses and shops belonging to Christians in the town,” area resident Kefas Mallam told Morning Star News.

The Rev. James Moore of the town’s Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), told Morning Star News that the assailants burned down one church building belonging to the Cherubim and Seraphim movement.

“There was an alert of a thief in the market,” he said. “When people heard ‘Thief! Thief!’ they were confused and started running. Unknown to the people, it was a strategy by the Muslim youth to attack the people. They went into killings, looting and burning.”

Moore, who is the area district secretary of the ECWA, said it was difficult to give a definitive casualty figure as the town was in complete lockdown following imposition of a 24-hour curfew the night of the attack. Kaduna Gov. Nasir El-Rufai visited the site in the Kajuru Local Government Area on Friday (Oct. 19) and said 55 people had been killed.

“According to what the police have briefed me so far, 55 corpses have been recovered; some burned beyond recognition,” he said.

Local press reported the violence began as an attack by young men attacking the market that escalated into a clash between “two youth groups of different religion.”

Gov. El-Rufai told reporters that the state government had imposed a curfew in the area and security agencies were restoring calm.

“It cannot continue, we are going to deal decisively with anyone involved in this,” he said. “This country belongs to all of us; this state belongs to all of us. No one is going to chase anyone away. So, you must learn to live with everyone in peace and justice.”

He added that the violence was “totally unacceptable,” and that anyone connected with or even observing the violence would be detained.

“I have charged the security agencies and the authorities here, local and traditional, to ensure that everyone connected with this, whether as a participant, instigator, or even watching while it is going on, is apprehended and prosecuted,” he said.

Area Muslims also attacked Christians on Feb. 26. Luke Waziri, a Christian community leader in Kasuwan Magani, told Morning Star News by phone that during the February attack, 12 Christians were killed.

“And 67 other Christians arrested after that incident are currently facing trial in a court in the city of Kaduna,” he added, lamenting that they were detained without cause by police under the direct control of a Muslim inspector general of police and a Muslim police commissioner.

“The sad thing is that the police are aware that Muslims in Kasuwan Magani have accumulated weapons with the intent to continually attack us, but they are unable to arrest these Muslims,” Waziri said.

Waziri, who is the national secretary of the Adara Development Association (ADA), a predominantly Christian ethnic group in Kaduna state, expressed sadness that while Christians had yet to overcome the trauma of the February attack, Muslims launched an assault on them again on Thursday (Oct. 18).

Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Muslims living primarily in the north and middle belt account for 45 percent.

Nigeria ranked 14th on Open Doors’ 2018 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.

Crisis in Nigeria as THOUSANDS killed in 'pure GENOCIDE'

THOUSANDS of men, women and children have been killed in Nigeria in what the country's Christian community are condemning as “ethnic cleansing”.

By JOEY MILLAR

Express
June 30, 2018

Last weekend 238 Christians were killed in a number of attacks by militia in Plateau State, a region in the heart of the country.

Campaigners are warning it is just the latest example of “pure genocide” in a country ravaged by religious division.

A joint statement issued by the Christian Association of Nigeria said more than 6,000 Christian worshippers - “mostly children, women and the aged” - had already been killed this year.

They said: “There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage.

“What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately.”

They said those responsible were being allowed to “go scot free” and said the Nigerian government was wrongly trying to paint the attacks as “farmers/herdsmen clashes”.

The statement said: “How can it be a clash when one group is persistently attacking, killing, maiming, destroying and the other group is persistently being killed, maimed and their places of worship destroyed?

“How can it be a clash when the herdsmen are hunting farmers in their own villages/communities and farmers are running for their lives?”

They said the police service was "skewed" against Christians and even accused the government of being "lukewarm" in its attempts to free the Chibok schoolgirls.

Nigeria is one of the world’s most dangerous countries to be a Christian with anti-persecution organisation Open Doors ranking it 14th on its annual watchlist.

They said Islamic extremism, especially in the north of the country, was leading to “hostility towards Christians”.

Open Doors said: “Believers experience discrimination and exclusion, and violence from militant Islamic groups, resulting in the loss of property, land, livelihood, physical injury or death. This is spreading southwards.

“Corruption has enfeebled the state and made it ill-equipped to protect Christians. Rivalry between ethnic groups and raids by Fulani herdsmen compound the persecution.

“Converts face rejection from their Muslim families and pressure to recant."

Scores killed, homes burned in Plateau State attacks

By Stephanie Busari, CNN

June 25, 2018

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)At least 86 people have been killed in attacks in central Nigeria, police said, an incident that has the potential to exacerbate ethnic tensions in an increasingly volatile region.

The violence, thought to be carried out by armed herdsmen, flared on Saturday in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State, police said.

"Eighty six persons all together were killed, six people injured, fifty houses burnt," said police spokesman Terna Tyopev.

Violence between the nomadic Fulani herdsmen, who are mostly Muslims, and farmers, who are predominantly Christians, have rocked Nigeria's Middle Belt since 2013 and are becoming more common.

Amid fears of revenge attacks from affected local communities, Simon Lalong, the governor of Plateau, announced that authorities will enforce a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Jos.

Lalong called the curfew "an immediate measure to protect the lives of citizens" in a statement on Twitter and said it will be in effect "until further notice."

He promised to follow up with longer term measures to secure peace in the area.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari posted a message on Twitter sending condolences to those affected and appealing for calm.

"The grievous loss of lives and property arising from the killings in Plateau today is painful and regrettable," he said.

"We will not rest until all murderers and criminal elements and their sponsors are incapacitated and brought to justice," Buhari said.

Vice President Yemi Osibajo visited Plateau State on Monday to condole with families and communities affected by the attacks, his aide Laolu Akande said.

Akande said Osibajo met with different parties affected by the conflict in the state to discuss an end to the spate of violence in the state.

The Nigerian President's ability to quell violence in the country is certain to be a defining issue in the upcoming 2019 presidential elections.

Nigeria is already grappling with a decade-long Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions internally.

Buhari, who is ethnically Fulani, has been accused of not doing enough to stop the violence and widely criticized on social media for his perceived inaction.

Furious Nigerians have taken to social media to voice their anger at the relative ease at which the herdsmen repeatedly attack vulnerable communities across the Middle Belt.

At least 72 people were killed in January following weeks of violence between nomadic herdsmen and farmers killed Benue State, another central region state. Another 19 people, including two priests, were killed in Benue State in April after a gunmen opened fire at a church, police said.

Buhari visited Benue state to console families and communities affected by attacks earlier this year, but argues that the problem is a wide ranging one that pre-dates his administration.

Buhari said that some of the armed herdsmen were trained by Libya's security services under the country's former ruler, Moammar Gadhafi, who was ousted from power and killed in 2011.

"These gunmen were trained and armed by Moammar Gadhafi of Libya. When he was killed, the gunmen escaped with their arms. We encountered some of them fighting with Boko Haram," in a report on Nigeria's Channels television in April.

Since then, Buhari said the crisis had been "made worse by the influx of armed gunmen from the Sahel region into different parts of the West African sub-region" Buhari said in a conversation with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during his visit to London in April.

Boko Haram ambush death toll hits 69

AFP
Updated July 30, 2017

KANO: At least 69 people died in a Boko Haram ambush of an oil exploration team in north-east Nigeria, as three men kidnapped by the jihadists made a video appeal.

Experts said the attack — Boko Haram’s bloodiest this year — underscored the persistent threat it poses, despite government claims the group is a spent force.

“So far the death toll stands at 69,” said an aid agency worker involved in the recovery of bodies after the attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on Tuesday.

The worker, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said 19 soldiers, 33 civilian militia and 17 civilians were killed.

“The last body was recovered on Friday in the bush in the Geidam district of neighbouring Yobe state, which is several kilometres from the scene of the ambush,” he said. “It shows the victim, who had gunshot wounds, died after trekking a long distance. There could be more such victims in the bush.”

Another source with knowledge of the rescue operation gave the death toll as “70 or more” and also said it was unclear whether all the victims had been accounted for.

The attack hit Nigerian National Petroleum Corpor¬ation (NNPC) staff.

“It’s a confirmation of the boldness and reassurance that Boko Haram has managed to gain over the last six weeks,” said Yan St-Pierre, from the Modern Security Consulting Group.

“They have been attacking more and more military outposts and more military convoys. For them to go after NNPC personnel just shows they don’t fear any military reprisal.

“Basically they have managed to gain enough resources, enough material, to plan ambushes targeted towards high value targets.”

News of the rising death toll came after Boko Haram published a four-minute video in which three men identified themselves as being from the University of Maiduguri.

The trio were part of a NNPC team on a mission to find commercial quantities of oil in the Lake Chad basin.

“I want to call on the acting president professor Yemi Osinbajo to come to our rescue to meet the demand,” one of the men says in the video, which he said was shot on Friday.

He attributed the attack to the IS-supported Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi, which has vowed to hit military and government targets.

“They have promised us that if their demands are met they will release us immediately to go back to the work we were caught doing,” the man added.

University of Maiduguri spokesman Danjuma Gambo confirmed the identities of the three kidnapped men in the video. “They are our staff but one more is yet to be accounted for,” he said.

Five members of staff from the university — two lecturers, two technologists and a driver — were killed, vice-chancellor Ibrahim Njodi said on Friday.

He told reporters the university had been hesitant to send staff with the NNPC team but had been assured about security.

Nigeria is searching for oil in the northeast to try to reduce its reliance on supplies from the Niger delta, where militant attacks have slashed production.

Kidnapping has been a feature of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000, displaced more than 2.6 million and left millions of others on the brink of famine.

Thousands of women and girls have been seized, to be married off to fighters, used as sex slaves or suicide bombers, while men and boys have been made to fight in the Islamist ranks.

The al-Barnawi faction differs from fighters loyal to Boko Haram’s long-time leader Abubakar Shekau in that it disagrees with the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

On Friday, two suicide bombers struck a camp for displaced people in Dikwa, 90 kilometres east of Maiduguri, killing eight, said local government official Rawa Gana Modu.

In Bama, 70 kilometres southeast of Maiduguri, three young female suicide bombers were killed when their explosives detonated prematurely on Thursday.

Boko Haram leader urges fighters: kill, slaughter and abduct

December 31, 2016

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Boko Haram's leader is urging his fighters to "kill, slaughter and abduct ... and detonate bombs everywhere," in a new video that denies Nigerian government claims that his Islamic extremist group has been crushed.

President Muhammadu Buhari declared last week that soldiers had driven Boko Haram from its last forest enclave, with fighters on the run and no place to hide.

Abubakar Shekau in a video posted on YouTube Thursday announces he is "well and alive."

Nigeria's military said they seized Shekau's Quran in an assault on Boko Haram's last hideout in the northeastern Sambisa Forest — wanting to indicate he was on the run. The military has at least three times in the past claimed to have killed Shekau, only to have him reappear in a video.

Nigerian Middle Belt state: 800+ Christians killed, 800+ injured, 100+ churches destroyed

Published: Oct. 26, 2016

Worldwatch Monitor

Nigeria’s Middle Belt is the scene of ever-continuing attacks on Christian farmers by mainly Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, including this past week where attacks have occurred in both Kaduna and Benue states. Now a recent report about another state in the Middle Belt, Nasarawa, shows that it too has been the scene of serious violence against Christians. In the period January 2013–May 2016, 826 Christians were killed and 878 injured. There were 102 churches destroyed or damaged.

Beside these, 787 houses were destroyed, as well as nine shops, and 32 motorised vehicles. Many families were completely deprived of their livelihoods. Around 21,000 Christians were reported as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in different camps inside and outside Nasarawa. Due to the difficult security situation, the authors of the in-depth fact-finding report are convinced that they were only able to report part of what really happened.

Their Nigeria Conflict and Security Analysis Network (NCSAN) report shows that Nasarawa has been engulfed in various forms of conflict since its creation in 1996. Many researchers, policy makers and government officials have explained the conflict in terms of politics, ethnicity and economic contestation over land and resources. In most cases, the religious component of the conflict has been completely downplayed, marginalised, excluded or neglected.

However, field research conducted by NCSAN on the conflicts which occurred from 2013 to 2016 reveals that Christians have been specifically targeted. Emerging evidence suggests there is a strategic agenda to target and persecute ethnic groups that are predominantly Christian.

The targeting of Christians appears to be carried out by the Hausa-Fulani herdsmen and by deliberate government policies to marginalise Christians and Christian communities. This is evident in political power-sharing and domination through traditional rulership. Islamic identity tends to give Muslims undue advantage over the affairs of the state. Indeed, state government policies are crafted to favour Islam and Muslims. The ongoing persecution of Christians in Nasarawa, like many other places in northern Nigeria, has been ignored.

This study unearths the drivers of persecution against Christian communities in Nasarawa and, importantly, it provides the basis for a policy proposition that encourages the need to build common citizenship among the people.

The report is the third in a series published by Open Doors' World Watch Research unit. The first report highlighted non-Boko Haram violence against Christians in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. The second report investigated in greater detail violent conflict in Taraba from 2013 to 2015.

Dozens slaughtered and church burned down in latest Fulani massacre

Ruth Gledhill

CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

27 April 2016

Up 40 people or more have been slaughtered in a new atrocity by an armed force of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria's Enugu State, according to local reports.

In the run-up to the massacre, local news sites commented on the arrival of 500 heavily-armed herdsmen in and around seven villages in the Nimbo area.

Ten homes were razed by arson, cars and motorcycles were destroyed, animals killed and Christ Holy Church International also burnt to the ground, the Nigerian news site Vanguard reported.

One young man died when the bus he was travelling in was set fire to near the church.

One victim, Kingsley Ezugwu, speaking to Vanguard from his hospital bed, said: "I was coming out from the house when I heard the community bell ringing. I was going with a friend to know what the bell was all about, only to see about 40 Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated guns and machetes.

"They pursued us, killed my friend and shot at me several times but missed. They caught up with me and used machetes on me until I lost consciousness."

When the attackers realised he was still alive, others were summoned to finish him off. He managed to crawl away and said he was helped to hospital by a "good samaritan".

Many survivors fled the villages.

A spokesman for Rochas Okorocha, the local governor, said: "Our problem in this country is that whatever happens is given an ethnic colouration and that makes the solution to such problem somewhat difficult."

According to the Igbo Youth Movement, Fulani herdsmen have murdered more than 700 Nigerians in the last 10 months, with the Federal Government taking no action to halt the killings.

Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, a defence spokesman in Nigeria, told IBTimes that security forces were investigating the killings. "Security agencies will issue a statement soon, investigations are ongoing," he said.

He was unable to confirm the numbers killed in the latest attack. Estimates in Nigeria range from 20 to 48 people.

Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria leave 52 dead

By Aminu Abubakar and Briana Duggan, CNN

December 29, 2015

Kano, Nigeria (CNN) Attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants have left more than 50 people dead and as many as 114 others wounded in the northeastern Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Madagali in the past 24 hours, according to residents and Nigerian officials.

Three young female suicide bombers detonated explosives -- two of them together at a market in Madagali Monday morning, killing 30 people, a local official said, and one at a checkpoint in Maiduguri, where one person died.

Sunday evening in Maiduguri, Nigerian troops battled armed Boko Haram fighters trying to enter the city, fighting that left at least 21 people dead and 91 wounded, according to Mohammed Kanar, head of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

The Nigerian troops had spotted a group of armed Boko Haram fighters trying to cross a trench to get into the Jiddari Polo area of Maiduguri and opened fire on them, said Babakura Kolo, a vigilante assisting the military in fighting Boko Haram.

That city has been fortified with trenches to prevent infiltration by Boko Haram.

"Some of the insurgents managed to cross into Jiddari Polo and engaged soldiers in battles with guns and explosives," said Usman Bala, another vigilante assisting the military.

Resident Madu Goni said the fighting lasted for almost two hours.

"This forced us to abandon our homes in fear," Goni said.

Hours later, on Monday morning, a teenage female suicide bomber killed one person and wounded seven others in an attack on a checkpoint in the Maiduguri suburb of Kushari, authorities said.

"The suicide bomber blended with the crowd and detonated her explosives," explained a Kushari resident who wished to remain anonymous for fear of Boko Haram reprisals.

Two other residents corroborated his account.

The later attacks in Madagali, with two young female suicide bombers, left 30 dead and at least 16 wounded, according to a local government official who asked not to be named.

Brig. Gen. Victor Ezugwu, the military chief in Adamawa state, confirmed the twin suicide blasts to reporters but gave no further details.

Adamawa state borders Borno state, a Boko Haram stronghold. The militant group has frequently attacked Madagali and in August 2014 briefly captured the town, forcing residents to flee to the state capital of Yola, 225 kilometers south (140 miles).

10 generals guilty of arming Boko Haram

By MICHELLE FAUL

June 3, 2014

KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — Ten generals and five other senior military officers have been found guilty in courts-martial of providing arms and information to Boko Haram extremists, several Nigerian newspapers said Tuesday, though the military insisted there was no truth in the reports.

They follow months of allegations from politicians and soldiers who told The Associated Press that some senior officers were helping the Islamic extremists and that some rank-and-file soldiers even fight alongside the insurgents and then return to army camps. They have said that information provided by army officers has helped insurgents in ambushing military convoys and in attacks on army barracks and outposts in their northeastern stronghold.

Leadership newspaper quoted one officer saying that four other officers, in addition to the 15, were found guilty of "being disloyal and for working for the members of the sect."

Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, who last week denied reports saying senior officers were being investigated, reiterated in a statement on Tuesday that defense headquarters "wishes to state once again categorically that there is no truth whatsoever in the report."

He called it a "falsehood" concocted by those who "appear hell-bent on misleading Nigerians and the international community to give credence to the negative impression they are so keen to propagate about the Nigerian military."

Nigeria's military often denies substantiated reports, such as on extrajudicial killings of civilians and detainees. It is accused of such gross human rights violations that the U.S. efforts to help in the rescue of nearly 300 abducted schoolgirls have been limited by U.S. law restricting sharing of some types of information and technology with abusive security forces.

The alleged sabotage by senior officers could explain the military's failure to curb a 5-year-old Islamic uprising by Boko Haram that has killed thousands despite a year-long state of emergency in the northeast.

Boko Haram has attracted international condemnation and U.N. sanctions since its April 15 abduction of more than 300 schoolgirls, of whom 272 remain captive.

Nigerian activists pressing the government to rescue the schoolgirls filed a complaint Tuesday against a police ban on protests.

"We filed a complaint that the police don't have any right to stop people from expressing themselves," said community leader Pogu Bitrus of Chibok, the town from which the girls were abducted.

The protests have "degenerated" and are "now posing a serious security threat," Abuja police commissioner Joseph Mbu said in a statement Monday banning all protests in the capital related to the topic.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, said such a ban violates basic rights under the Nigerian constitution.

However, Nigerian police on Tuesday said they had not ordered a ban on peaceful assemblies or protests in Nigeria.
"The Police only issued advisory notice, enjoining citizens to apply caution in the said rallies," the statement said. "Citizens are strongly advised to reconsider their positions on the issues of rallies and protests" given the current threats by militants.

The kidnapping crisis has highlighted Nigeria's failure to curb Boko Haram's uprising.

Leadership newspaper on Tuesday quoted military officers saying the 15 allegedly found guilty of providing arms to Boko Haram are among many more being tried at divisional level. The verdicts are being referred to defense headquarters in Abuja, the capital, where the fate of the officers will be decided, the newspaper said. The officers it quoted spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to give information to reporters.
President Goodluck Jonathan said last year that he believed that some members of the military and even of his own government, including some Cabinet ministers, sympathized with Boko Haram or belonged to the group. Jonathan in January fired his entire military command and weeks later replaced the defense minister.

His government and military have been harshly criticized for lack of action that has led to the schoolgirls' prolonged captivity. Defense chief Air Marshal Alex Badeh said last week the military knows where they are being held but fears to use force as it could get the girls killed. Jonathan is under increasing pressure to make a deal with the insurgents, who are demanding he free detained fighters in return for the girls.

Christian Leaders in Nigeria Call Bauchi Violence Premeditated

Numerous weapons and mercenaries point to plans awaiting a triggering incident, they say.

By Obed Minchakpu

ChristianNewsToday.com

TAFAWA BALEWA, Nigeria, – Christian leaders in Bauchi state said religious violence here sparked by a row over a billiards table on Jan. 27 bore signs that Muslim extremists were prepared for a large-scale slaughter of Christians.

Initially authorities said only 18 people were killed after sectarian violence erupted in the areas of Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro, where there are large Christian populations in predominantly Muslim Bauchi state in northern Nigeria. Since then, estimates have ranged wildly from 25 to 96 people killed over a three-day period starting Jan. 27, with Christian leaders asserting that Muslim extremists used the billiards table incident as a pretext for unleashing attacks with a stockpile of weapons hidden in mosques.

As early as Feb. 1, Bauchi Commissioner of Police Mohammed Indabawa said at a press conference that 25 bodies had been recovered in a joint security operation in Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro, with 38 people arrested. Shortly thereafter, a local legislator in the Bauchi House of Assembly, Aminu Tukur, told journalists that 31 bodies had been recovered and were buried in the area.

Subsequently Luka Chongda, chairman of the Sayawa Development Association, a community Non-Governmental Organization in Tafawa Balewa, reportedly said 96 people had died in the violence. He cited data collated from affected areas in both Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa four days after the Jan. 27 incident.

Christian leaders in Tafawa Balewa told Compass that triggering incident – in which a Muslim was said to have burned a billiards table belonging to a Christian, prompting youths from Christian families to burn mosques and Muslim homes – led to the emergence of Muslim weapons caches and Islamist mercenaries. Islamists had made preparations for attacks in the areas with large Christian populations, the Christian leaders said, and were awaiting a pretext for carrying them out.

The Rev. Ibrahim Ezekiel of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) in Tafawa Balewa told Compass that Muslims in Bauchi state have tried to eliminate the Christian communities in Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro since violence first erupted in 1991.

“The Muslims have been attacking us, and the government of Bauchi state knows this,” Ezekiel said. “Yet the government has given these Muslims the backing to attack us. They want to exterminate the Christian communities here, and that is the reason they are supporting the attacks on us.”

Ezekiel, pastor of a COCIN congregation in Maryam, a suburb of Tafawa Balewa, said that area Muslims “used a lot of weapons to attack our people” that were stockpiled in mosques. Apart from the use of guns and other weapons to attack Christians, Ezekiel said area Islamists brought in Muslim mercenaries.

“They brought in mercenaries to attack us,” he said. “They label Christians here as infidels who must be dealt with. The Muslims are the aggressors – they killed our people and burned their houses. Christians who were helpless had no choice than to fight back and defend their families.”

Armed Muslims as young as 15 years old shot Christians they encountered, Ezekiel said. Christian youths seeking revenge for the billiards table incident stoked the violence until security forces could contain them and their Muslim counterparts; the pastor said 47 Christians have been arrested, with 27 of them charged.

The violence that erupted in the only two local council areas with large Christian populations in Bauchi state led to significant property destruction that is as yet unknown in monetary terms. In addition, according to community leader Chongda, the violence displaced 800 families, with many of those yet to return.

Among Christians in Tafawa Balewa whose bodies have been recovered and buried are Pastor Bitrus Dangana of the Evangelical Church Winning All; Haruna Ayuba; Dima Apollos; Promise Isaac; Mama Likita Dadi; and Irimiya Mainama. Also killed were Christians identified only as Emmanuel in the Sabon Layi area of Tafawa Balewa; Godiya; and Gambo, a butcher in Maryam.

Abubakar Adamu, an official of the Red Cross Society in Bauchi, confirmed that the incident had displaced about 5,000 persons. The Red Cross was treating many of the wounded and burned, he said.

Ramat Kure of Maryam village told Compass that the violence in Tafawa Balewa was the fourth outbreak since 1991.

“The religious crisis in the area has remained unresolved because the Christian community is being oppressed by Muslims in the state,” he said. “The incessant religious conflicts in the area are as a result of deliberate policy of marginalization and persecution targeted at Christians by the Muslim political leaders in the state.”

Kure said he witnessed the killing of 10 Christians in Tafawa Balewa on Jan. 27.

Areas hit by the violence were Angwan Sarki village, Angwan Madaki, Arewa, Sabon Layi, and Bauchi-Dass Road. Muslims reportedly barricaded the Bauchi Dass Highway, pulling dozens of Christians from their vehicles and killing them.

Pastor Yunnana Yusuf of the COCIN Centre in Tafawa Balewa said he was in his home within the church compound on Jan. 27 when he heard shouting around the market square.

“I came out only to see people throwing stones at each other and, on inquiring, I was told that there was a fight going on between Muslims and Christians,” he told Compass. “In no time, I heard gunshots. As I came out, I saw one Alhaji Maigida and another Muslim by the name of Alhaji Maishayi, about a hundred meters away, distributing guns to some Muslims, and they began shooting. Instantly, I saw three Christians being shot. It was this that triggered the incident, and within a short time, the entire town and surrounding villages were attacked and razed by Muslim attackers.”

The dispute between the Muslim billiards player and the Christian pool table owner was reportedly settled by mediation of area elders on Jan. 26, but Muslims later burned the table, prompting Christian youths to burn 50 houses and five mosques, according to police commissioner Indabawa.

Vatican says pope saddened about violence against Nigerian Christians

By Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged security officers to restore peace and the rule of law in Nigeria after violence against Christians left up to 50 people dead, including a Catholic priest.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state, said in a telegram sent to church and government officials in Nigeria that the pope was "saddened to learn of the tragic consequences of the recent violent protests in northern Nigeria."

A Muslim protest against a series of European cartoons offensive to Islam, originally published in Denmark, proceeded peacefully Feb. 18 in the city of Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria's Borno state.

But after the demonstration, armed men took to the streets, setting afire churches, homes and businesses owned by Christians. Some 50 people, reportedly all Christians, were killed in the blazes or by their attackers, said Bishop Matthew Ndagoso of Maiduguri.

The papal telegram, which the Vatican released to journalists Feb. 21, said the pope was praying for all those affected by the violence, especially those who had been killed and their loved ones.

The pope made special mention of Father Michael Gajere, the Nigerian priest who died inside a burning parish compound after staying behind to save a group of altar boys from attackers.

The pope called on all those "involved in providing security ... to ensure peace and to promote the rule of law for which all people of good will long," the telegram said.

Speaking to Catholic News Service by phone Feb. 21 from Maiduguri, Bishop Ndagoso said the church and local Christians are questioning why no adequate security was provided for the Feb. 18 demonstration.

He said there was "no visible police presence" when fires started in different parts of the city as soon as demonstrators dispersed from the city's main square at 10 a.m.

Government "agencies gave permission for this demonstration, but they know demonstrations in our country often turn violent, and so they should have taken adequate security measures," he said.

He said police only came on the scene "after the damage had been done. To us, this shows the complicity on the part of the government."

The bishop said in addition to those killed, hundreds were injured, and 40 church buildings were destroyed. Among them were four Catholic churches and the bishop's house.

"My house is burned completely down, even the walls have fallen down," Bishop Ndagoso said. He said he was away at a seminar the morning the violence broke out, "otherwise I would have been caught there" in the burning home.

Father Gajere was the diocesan justice and peace director and helped dig wells and build dams for the surrounding Muslim communities, the bishop said. Born locally in 1964, the priest was ordained in 1992 and always worked in the same diocese.

Bishop Ndagoso said the priest was with about eight altar boys inside the rectory when the church next door was set ablaze. The priest faced the attackers as they stormed the rectory, and he urged them to not cause anyone any harm, said the bishop.

"When he realized the flames were closing in, he told the kids to run and they jumped the wall" surrounding church compound, the bishop told CNS. The priest stayed behind "to persuade the attackers to do nothing, but instead he paid the supreme price" with his death.

"The situation is still very tense. Even though people are going about their business, there is an uneasy calm," he said.

While some have suggested criminals or local hoodlums were responsible for transforming the peaceful demonstration into an inferno, Bishop Ndagoso said one "cannot rule out religious motives."

"It has clearly religious undertones, because why would they only burn Christian businesses, homes and churches?" he asked.

The northern Nigerian state of Borno is more than 60 percent Muslim. There are about a half million Christians in a state of 3.5 million people, the bishop said.

He said the government listed the official death toll at 15 in an effort to minimize the severity of the incident and prevent outbreaks of retaliatory violence in the city and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the apostolic nuncio in Nigeria, Archbishop Renzo Fratini, told the Vatican missionary news agency, Fides, that he believes there was "no specific hatred against Catholics in Nigeria" and that the latest violence "had little to do with religion."

He said there have been tensions between Muslims and all Christians, not just Catholics, but that political unrest may have been the trigger in Maiduguri, since protesters were also contesting a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, to run for a third term.

Lands Drenched in Innocent Blood: Boko Haram Declares War Against Christians

By Deacon Keith Fournier

3/9/2012
Catholic Online

A spokesman for Boko Haram announced on Thursday they are planning  a "war on Christians". They told a local reporter  it would occur in the "next few weeks". The spokesman said the group "will launch a number of attacks, coordinated and part of the plan to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country. We will create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have a proper Islamic state that the Christians won't be able to stay." The blood of the martyrs seems to be flowing more frequently these days as militant Islamic terrorism increases.

ABUA,Nigeria (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday, March 7, 2012, six armed men killed a customs official, a five year old boy and at least two others. They did so intentionally and in cold blood. They did so in the name of Allah.

They set fire to a police station, a government building and two churches, one Catholic and one belonging to the Christian Brethren. They blew up vehicles, motorcycles and terrorized a town for three hours - all, once again, in the name of Allah.

This Islamist group has been terrorizing northern Nigeria for two years. They claimed responsibility for their evil and horrific behavior without any remorse or regret. On Thursday, March 8, 2012, they also killed a British and an Italian hostage. None of the reports indicated how the murders occurred but, the track record of similar Jihadis points to beheadings. We have only to remember Danny Pearl. In fact, we MUST remember Danny Pearl!

The President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, properly condemned the murders. The two victims were innocent engineers who had been taken by these evil Islamists in May of 2011. Efforts to negotiate for their release were unsuccessful. So too were efforts to rescue them. Their families are in mourning and we should pray for them.

We reported on the horrible bombing outside of St Theresa's Catholic Church on Christmas Day. That evil act, perpetrated by these Islamic terrorists who proudly refer to themselves as the "Nigerian Taliban," was followed by an ultimatum issued to Christians in Northern Nigeria to leave in three days or face further violence.

 A spokesman for "Boko Haram" told reporters "our Muslim brothers are advised to return to the north, because we have evidence that they will be attacked. We also issue a three-day ultimatum to the southerners living in the north of Nigeria, to leave. We have serious indications to suggest that the soldiers only kill the innocent Muslims in areas where government has declared a state of emergency. We will face them decisively to protect our brothers."

That was nonsense. There have been no attacks on Muslims in Nigeria. In fact, some Muslims who properly reject the violence of this evil group have been victim of their terror. The phrase "Boko Haram" means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language. These Islamist terrorists hate all things "western" and Christian. They are Jihadiss who have expressed their intention to forcibly establish an Islamic Caliphate and impose Shariah Law on everyone.

They are also called  al-Sunnah wal Jamma - or "Followers of the Prophet's Teachings". They refer to themselves officially as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which means "people committed to the propagation of the prophet's teachings and Jihad". They are murderers and terrorists who use an appeal to religion to attempt to justify evil.

 After the Christmas bombings, a spokesman claimed responsibility in an interview with a local newspaper called The Daily Trust saying "There will never be peace, until our demands are met. We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."

The terrorist group issued a three-day ultimatum for Christians to leave the North of Nigeria and has called for all Muslims living in the South to move North. They have signaled their intention to fight government troops and to expand their violent attacks against Christians and others who resist their Jihad.

After the Christmas bombing Vatican Radio reported that Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, the Vice President of the Nigerian Bishop's Conference, urged Nigerians to not to allow their country to be overtaken by terror: "Churches have been destroyed and lives were lost and there is no sign that this might end, until the government intervenes decisively."

"We continue to ask Christians to be vigilant and aware of the issue of safety when they go to church and even in their own homes. We have appealed that there be no retaliation and we continue to preach peace, hoping that all of us in Nigeria, Muslims and Christians, we will be able to work and live happily together. This is our position: no violence, no retaliation. We want to live in peace".

Sadly, these evil Jihadists have no such desire.

Archbishop Kaigama added, "We continue to appeal to reason, for dialogue. It is possible for Muslims and Christians to reason together. We know that there are other forces behind the so-called Boko Haram. We do not even know who the Boko Haram really are, what they want, where they get their arms from. What is certain is that there are some forces behind them, either in Nigeria or abroad, who want to profit from instability in our country, but we will not give in to terrorism, we will not allow these fundamentalists to ruin our country".

On the day after Christmas, the Feast of St Stephen the Deacon and Proto - Martyr, a visibly burdened Pope Benedict XVI spoke to the faithful gathered for the Angelus prayer. He spoke from his heart, urging prayers for those whose, "lands are drenched in innocent blood."

The Pope reminded the faithful that St Stephen gave his life for his Christian faith. He spoke of his heroic witness, noting that even as he was being stoned to death he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" and begged forgiveness for his accusers. He extolled the witness of the early martyrs of the Church, a topic which he has frequently addressed in the last few years.

Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office said in a statement, "Regretfully the attacks at the Church of Saint Theresa in Abuja, timed to coincide with Christmas Day celebrations, are once again the expression of the cruelty of blind and absurd hatred devoid of any respect for human life and represent an attempt to generate and fuel further hatred and confusion."

"We express our closeness to the suffering of the Church and of all the Nigerian people who have been affected by violent terrorism even during these days that should be of joy and peace," he added. "While we pray for the victims, we also express the hope that this senseless violence will not weaken the will for peaceful cohabitation and dialogue in the nation."

The word "Martyr" derives from a Greek word which means "witness." The Catholic faith proclaims that the shedding of one's blood in fidelity to Jesus Christ is the final witness to the Faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that:

"Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude" (CCC #2471 - 2473)

What is happening to our brethren in Nigeria - Christian martyrdom at the hands of militant Jihadist Islamists - must not be overlooked. The threat of such violent, evil, Jihadism is not decreasing. If anything, it is increasing. For someone who remembers the cold war, even to the point of drills where we hid under our desks, it calls to mind the great need for a National resolve.  It makes the threat of militant Marxism look mild in comparison.

The victims of this evil are often being killed precisely because they are Christians. The blood of the martyrs seems to be flowing more frequently these days as militant Islamic terrorism increases and establishes a new beachhead in Africa. For Catholics and other Christians, we cannot - we must not- fail to act. Africa is one of the great centers of the renewal of the Church in the Third Millennium. We are living in a new missionary age.

The words attributed to Tertullian in the Second Century of the Church still hold out their promise: "The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church."  We are living in a new missionary age. Pray for our brethren in Africa. Also, understand the implications of the evil designs of these Jihadists. They hate us. If you want to read a source which "pulls no punches" in their reporting on this growing threat, read Jihad Watch. (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)

A spokesman for Boko Haram announced on Thursday they are planning  a "war on Christians". They told a local reporter  it would occur in the "next few weeks."  The spokesman said the group "will launch a number of attacks, coordinated and part of the plan to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country. We will create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have a proper Islamic state that the Christians won't be able to stay."

Brits Warned As Nigeria Death Toll Hits 178

VOICE OF AMERICA

1-29-2011

Britons are being warned against travelling to parts of Nigeria as the death toll from a series of terror attacks rose to 178.

Radical Islamist group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for bombings in the northern city of Kano.

Witnesses have described seeing dozens of bodies piled up outside the main morgue after attacks at police stations, state buildings and on streets, beginning on Friday afternoon.

Authorities enforced a 24-hour curfew in the city, with many people remaining home as soldiers and police patrolled the streets and set up roadblocks.

The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for the African country, advising against travel to Kano.

The FCO website said: "We advise against all travel to Kano whilst the curfew remains in force and for those in Kano to remain vigilant and to exercise caution.

"DFID (Department for International Development) and British Council have limited their operations in Kano whilst the curfew is in place."

An official at the city's main morgue said dead bodies had been arriving since Friday night.

Soldiers and police officers swarmed throughout the city as the death toll rose.

Boko Haram is campaigning to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria, a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people.

The assaults were apparently in response to a refusal by authorities to release their members from custody.

The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege", was responsible for at least 510 killings last year alone.

Police spokesman Olusola Amore said attackers targeted five police buildings, two immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police.

The Nigerian Red Cross said volunteers continued to offer first aid to the wounded and take the seriously injured to local hospitals.

Ramadan violence erupts in Nigeria

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)

8/30/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Ongoing violence in Nigeria has claimed the lives of at least nine people in Nigeria. Clashes between Christians and Muslims in the divided country are common and the latest round of violence occurred as Muslims were ending their celebration of Ramadan.

ABUJA, NIGERIA (Catholic Online) - The country of 155 million people is 50 percent Muslim and 40 percent Christian with a remaining 10 percent following tribal belief systems. This divide has led to bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims who want the country to respect their religious beliefs and reflect their perspective on the nature of government. Notably, several Muslims have gained attention called for the imposition of Sharia law penalties, such as stoning for adultery, in Muslim areas.

The most recent violence took place in the city of Jos, northeast of the capital. Reportedly, a gang of armed Christian youths attacked Muslim worshippers. In addition to the dead, over 100 were reported injured. Dozens of cars were burned.

Trapping the Muslims with roadblocks, the gang is reported to have used guns, machetes, rocks, and arrows to perpetrate their violence. As many as 20 children may be among the dead. Hospitals reported filling up with the wounded who mostly suffered wounds from thrown objects.

Allegedly, Christian "gangsters" then told witnesses the attacks were revenge for Muslim bombings that took place on Christmas Eve of 2010.

This violence is added to the recent string of attacks from Muslim extremists who are rebelling against the Nigerian government from strongholds in the northern part of the country. On Friday, that group detonated a bomb at UN offices in the capital, Abuja. The attack killed 23 people.

Generally, Nigeria remains peaceful as the different religious groups coexist in separate parts of the country, with Muslims dominating the north and Christians in the south. However, periodic bouts of violence can last for months as each side makes reprisals against the other for previous attacks.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned both acts of violence as his government struggles to maintain peace in the sometimes bitterly divided country.

Christians targeted in fatal stealth attacks

Muslim terrorists implicated in multiple murders

August 13, 2011

WorldNetDaily
By Michael Carl

There's no pattern and little evidence, but periodically, and without warning, another Christian is shot or stabbed – almost always fatally – in the Nigerian town of Maiduguri.

Experts on the persecution of Christians in that part of the world say the Nigerian Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram has been implicated in the murders, which have happened intermittently in the Christians' own homes.

Open Doors USA President Carl Moeller says Boko Haram's motive for the killings is simple: The Muslim group wants to take over in the north.

"As we know, one of the goals of Boko Haram is to create a Shariah, Islamic law, society in Nigeria. Their intentional use of this sort of terroristic activity is designed to further their ends of that," Moeller explained.

"Our co-workers in the city have said basically [Boko Haram] continues to use attacks to disrupt the public peace and have people literally flee, particularly the Christians, flee from these cities," Moeller said.

Moeller said the violence is highly organized and has a very clear objective.

"It's more specifically something like religiocide or religious cleansing. They recognize no other possibility of society based on anything other than Shariah law," Moeller said.

International Christian Concern analyst Jonathan Racho agrees that the group wants to establish Islamic law in the north. He also says that while Boko Haram pushes Shariah, they also try to win influence by portraying Christianity as a "foreign religion."

"Their strict interest in Shariah law is why they look at Christians and say Christians promote Western ideas and are opposed to the Islamic way of life," Racho said.

But Racho added that Boko Haram has an even more sinister purpose.

"One of their goals is to eliminate Christianity," Racho said.

Moeller agrees that one of Boko Haram's objectives is to eliminate Christianity from Nigeria. He also says the group's level of extremism pits them against the government of Nigeria.

"They're at odds with the government of Nigeria and other parts of Nigeria where even moderate Muslims would admit the presence of Christianity. Boko Haram is truly one of those groups that wants to see Christianity eliminated from the country of Nigeria," Moeller said.

Racho added that Christians aren't Boko Haram's only target.

"Even moderate Muslims have been killed by this group," he said.

Racho added that there's one feature of the current series of attacks that sets it apart from other acts of anti-Christian violence.

"They kill a Christian and after a few days they kill another Christian. After a few days they kill another Christian. We don't know how long it's going to continue. We are really alarmed by these killings," Racho said.

Moeller agreed that Boko Haram is using fear as a weapon on the region's Christians.

"There's a great deal of ongoing tension and Boko Haram continues to exploit and play on the fears of people in the area," Moeller said.

Moeller also believes that many Americans don't understand the dynamics of Nigeria's religious rivalry.

"The question of motivations is almost lost on us in America because we don't really grasp the intensity of the religious hatred that goes on in the division between [Muslim] northern and [Christian] southern Nigeria," Moeller explained.

While both Moeller and Racho agree that the aim of the terror campaign is to force Christians out of northern Nigeria, Racho believes the one-at-a-time method has another purpose.

"This campaign is carefully organized to avoid media attention. That's why they're not burning down houses or villages. They're very systematic, and they don't want the media attention. They're succeeding in sowing fear in many of the Christians and many have already left their homes," Racho stated.

Moeller said the terrorist group is more than willing to take advantage of the departure of more Christians.

"They move in where Christians have vacated and take over the social and political control of that area," Moeller said.

Moeller added that the terror group has its sights on the predominantly Christian southern half of the country as well. He saaid that's especially tragic because of the growth of the Christian church in the south.

"The southern part of that country is one of the most vital, powerful, growing churches in all the world. So, this is a formula for an extreme amount of confrontation, violence and death in the area," Moeller said.

Racho said Nigerian security forces have moved into the northern area in an attempt to restore order.

Moeller added that the government is attempting to prosecute the perpetrators when they are able to find and capture them. However, he said Nigeria's Christian president Goodluck Jonathan is acting to avoid the appearance of showing favoritism to Christians.

"He has to promote general peace because extremists in his country would exploit any support that he would show to Christians as confirming their inaccurate statements that the president is actually trying to eliminate Islam from the country," Moeller stated.

One of the government's responses to the terror attacks is to send a six-man fact-finding mission to Borno state, but even with the fact-finding mission, Moeller believes the government's options are limited.

"I can clearly see the connection between what Boko Haram is trying to do and that the way the government's hands are somewhat tied," Moeller said. "If Boko Haram stops its attacks, then the government is able to restore public order."

Moeller added that the government has some tough choices if Boko Haram continues its terror campaign.

"When they (the group) continue to provide more fuel for terrorism and more terroristic activities then the government has to be cautious in its response to that. Otherwise, the government will provide justification for the Boko Haram message. It's a very precarious situation for the government there," Moeller explained.

The Nigerian clash between Muslims and Christians is just one of many similar confrontations going on across Africa.

There are reports nearly half a million people, including many Christians, have been driven from their homes in Ivory Coast following the internationally sanctioned installation of a Muslim as president.

Other clashes have been reported in Kenya and Egypt.

WND recently has reported that Egyptian Christians say they are under siege following the Muslim Brotherhood's integration into power.

Reports document attacks by armed gangs on about 60 Coptic Christians during a protest at a national television headquarters and suggest that the Egyptian army has been part of the aggression.

Christians have been demanding without success that the government prosecute the perpetrators of the attack and the burning of the Mar Mina church in the Cairo neighborhood of Imbabba on May 8.

A dozen people were killed and more than 200 were injured there.

Egyptian human rights activist and journalist Wagih Yacoub was an eyewitness to the violence and describes the assault on Christians as an ambush.

"The army left. They were not there and they did nothing after the attacks. Other criminals came and attacked the Christians. We asked for the rescue and the army came after a few hours," Yacoub related.

In Kenya, President Obama campaigned for the Muslim challenger, Raila Odinga, while Obama was a U.S. senator.

Appearing with Odinga at campaign stops, Obama gave speeches accusing the sitting Kenyan president of being corrupt and oppressive.

But Odinga lost, despite attracting Muslim votes through a secret Memorandum of Understanding with Muslim Sheik Abdullah Abdi, the chief of the National Muslim Leaders Forum of Kenya. In the memo, Odinga promised to rewrite the Kenyan constitution to install Shariah as law in "Muslim declared regions," elevate Islam as "the only true religion" and give Islamic leaders "oversight" over other religions, establish Shariah courts and ban Christian proselytism.

After his loss, Odinga accused the incumbent president of rigging the vote and allegedly incited his supporters to riot. Over the next month, some 1,500 Kenyans were killed and more than 500,000 displaced – with most of the violence led by Muslims, who set churches ablaze and hacked Christians to death with machetes.

Odinga eventually ended up as prime minister of Kenya through a power-sharing arrangement that was enacted in an effort to appease the rioters.

Churches bombed and Christians attacked as violence spreads in Nigeria

March 23, 2011, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Churches bombed and Christians attacked as violence spreads in Nigeria ahead of Presidential elections. Police warn worship areas are targets. Fears that jihad has been launched to create chaos and force state of emergency. Archbishop of Jos fears city could be overrun.

There are warnings that growing violence in Nigeria is being instigated by extremists who want to stir up religious violence and create a state of emergency ahead of the Presidential elections. The Archbishop of Jos fears the city could be overrun and is calling for increased security.

A blast on Sunday killed two suspected bombers, but failed to catch the churchgoers for which it was probably intended. In other attacks in Jos three Christians were killed and six stabbed.

These are just the latest in a series of attacks which have claimed hundreds of lives over the past year. A partner of Release International, which serves persecuted Christians, believes the aim behind the attacks is to whip up sectarian violence ahead of the April elections.

The Stefanos Foundation points to a newspaper statement calling for jihad allegedly published by a Jos Muslim Elders Forum on December 30 2010 – days after the latest round of violence erupted.

It said: ‘Muslims in the State shall ensure that a few months before General Elections jihad will be declared in the State, which cannot be controlled even by security agencies, with great slaughter and massacre, which the Federal Government will have no option than to declare a State of Emergency in Plateau.’

‘We’re deeply concerned about these latest attacks,’ says Release CEO Andy Dipper. ‘The continuing targeting of Christians appears to be a deliberate move to provoke a backlash and sectarian violence – an attempt to destabilise the community ahead of the elections. Release urges Nigeria’s Christians to stay vigilant, but to refuse to be drawn into a spiral of violence.’

Archbishop of Jos, the Most Rev Dr Benjamin Kwashi told Release: ‘No-one is willing to accept that the Christian church is under attack. It is difficult for people to understand that Jos could be overrun. The government has been negligent, and the world will not help.’

He acknowledged that some Christians had been driven to defend themselves and were in danger of being drawn into a spiral of violence.

‘Even the Muslims are not safe – though we have been working very hard to keep them safe in our area of town.

‘Revenge I will never support. But those who wish to defend themselves, I cannot stop. People have had enough of this. It’s been going on for 30 years. The government must do more to provide security for everybody.

‘But you know, the only real answer is prayer. I trust God to defend us. I have been threatened with death personally three times. In all three times, the Lord has rescued me.’

There were two failed bomb attacks against churches on Sunday. Release has been told the bombers may have been trying to get round heightened security by targeting worshippers as they were walking home.

The likely targets were members of the Church of Christ In Nigeria (COCIN) and of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Nasawara Gwom, a mainly Christian district of Jos, in Nigeria’s central Plateau State. It’s been reported that two prominent Christian politicians were attending the services.

According to reports men rode into the area on a motorcycle. Witnesses say they dropped the bomb, which exploded, killing them and damaging a nearby shop. An angry crowd turned on another motorcyclist who was acting suspiciously, and killed him. It’s not known whether he was, in fact, another bomber, or a passer-by caught up in the ensuing panic.

Tensions had been heightened by earlier warnings in Jos that bomb attacks against churches were likely.

Despite increased security in advance of next month’s Presidential elections militants managed to plant a second bomb on Sunday behind the headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry. This was discovered and made safe.

According to Nigerian media reports many churches ended their services early after the bomb blast rang out. But Release partners deny reports that Christians are fleeing the city. ‘People are concerned,’ says a spokesman for the Stefanos Foundation, ‘but they are also very security conscious. Besides, they have lived here all their lives – where would they go?’

Police routinely search worship areas before services, but the approach taken by the motorcycle bombers on Sunday may have been to circumvent that. Commissioner of Police Abdelrahaman Akano told the Nigerian News Service, ‘We are not neglecting the fact that worship areas are targets.’

Sectarian violence has been increasing in Nigeria during the build-up to the elections on April 9. Last week security forces intercepted a truck load of explosives and ammunition in Jos.

Plateau state is on the dividing line between the predominantly Muslim north and the Christian south of the country. There is a history of conflict between different ethnic groups in the region vying for control of fertile land.

In March 2010, militants massacred more than 500 Christians near Jos. Bomb attacks followed on Christmas Eve, attributed to an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which means ‘Western education is sinful’.

On March 13, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for murdering a moderate Muslim cleric in Maiduguri, Borno State, who had been advocating non-violence.

Meanwhile in Bauchi state, there are reports that upwards of 4,000 people have been driven from their homes after night attacks by armed Fulani that began on March 10. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports the attackers burnt down 13 churches in villages, along with upwards of 450 homes. The militants, numbering around 2,000, are said to be wearing police uniforms.

Bauchi and Borno states have imposed Islamic Shari’a law – despite Nigeria having a secular constitution. Christians in both states have been driven from their homes.

Nigeria Arrests 164 Over Massacre

Voice of America
21 March 2010

A Nigerian police spokesman says 164 people have been arrested for alleged involvement in violence near the town of Jos earlier this month that killed more than 200 people.

The spokesman said Sunday that 41 of those arrested will be charged with terrorism, which could result in life in prison.

The others, he said, will be charged with illegal possession of firearms, rioting and other offenses.

Witnesses to the March 7 violence said that ethnic Fulani herdsmen, who are Muslim, attacked mainly Christian villages south of Jos, setting homes on fire and slashing people with knives and machetes.

The U.N. special investigator on freedom of religion has said the massacre could have been prevented had authorities addressed deep-seated tensions between Muslims and Christians.

Jos has a history of sectarian violence.  The city sits on the dividing line between Nigeria's mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

TIMELINE: Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria

Thu Jul 30, 2009

(Reuters) - Security forces in northern Nigeria on Thursday battled the remnants of an Islamic sect following days of unrest which have killed more than 180 people and displaced thousands.

Following is a timeline of major religious and ethnic violence in Nigeria, a country divided into at least 200 ethnic groups and about evenly split between Muslims and Christians:

2000 - Thousands killed in northern Nigeria as non-Muslims opposed to the introduction of Islamic sharia law fight Muslims who demand its implementation in the northern state of Kaduna.

September 2001 - Christian-Muslim violence flares after Muslim prayers in Jos, with churches and mosques set on fire. According to a September 2002 report by a panel set up by Plateau state government, at least 915 people are killed in days of rioting.

November 2002 - Nigeria decides to abandon the Miss World contest in Abuja. At least 215 people die in rioting in the northern city of Kaduna following a newspaper article suggesting the Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the Miss World beauty queens if he were alive today.

May 2004 - Hundreds of people, mostly Muslim Fulanis, are killed by Christian Tarok militia in the central Nigerian town of Yelwa. Survivors say they buried 630 corpses. Police say hundreds were killed.

-- Muslim and Christian militants fight bloody street battles later the same month in the northern city of Kano. Christian community leaders say 500-600 people, mostly Christians, were killed in the two days of rioting by Muslims.

February 2006 - A week of rioting by Muslim and Christian mobs claims at least 157 lives. The violence begins in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, when a Muslim protest against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad runs out of control. Revenge attacks follow in the south.

November 2008 - Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs triggered by a disputed local government chairmanship election kill at least 400 people in the central city of Jos.

February 2009 - The governor of Bauchi state imposes a night-time curfew on Bauchi city on February 22, a day after clashes kill at least 11 people. At least 28 people were seriously wounded and several houses, churches and mosques burned down.

July 2009 - Boko Haram, which means "education illegal," stages attacks in the northeastern city of Bauchi on July 26 after the arrest of some of its members. More than 50 people are killed and over 100 arrested, prompting the Bauchi state governor to impose a night curfew on the state capital.

-- Boko Haram, which opposes Western education and demands the adoption of sharia in all of Nigeria, threatens further attacks against security forces.

-- Police in Maiduguri, home of Boko Haram's leader Mohammed Yusuf, say security forces killed 90 sect members on July 27. In neighboring Yobe state, police recover the bodies of 33 sect members after a gun battle near the town of Potiskum on July 29. Some 30 people also have died in Kano.

Death toll over 300 in Nigerian sectarian violence

By AHMED SAKA

November 29, 2008

JOS, Nigeria (AP) — Mobs burned homes, churches and mosques Saturday in a second day of riots, as the death toll rose to more than 300 in the worst sectarian violence in Africa's most populous nation in years.

Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, the imam at the city's main mosque, said more than 300 dead bodies were brought there on Saturday alone and 183 could be seen laying near the building waiting to be interred.

Those killed in the Christian community would not likely be taken to the city mosque, raising the possibility that the total death toll could be much higher. The city morgue wasn't immediately accessible Saturday.

Police spokesman Bala Kassim said there were "many dead," but couldn't cite a firm number.

The hostilities mark the worst clashes in the restive West African nation since 2004, when as many as 700 people died in Plateau State during Christian-Muslim clashes.

Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has a long history of community violence that has made it difficult to organize voting. Rioting in September 2001 killed more than 1,000 people.

The city is situated in Nigeria's "middle belt," where members of hundreds of ethnic groups commingle in a band of fertile and hotly contested land separating the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.

Authorities imposed an around-the-clock curfew in the hardest-hit areas of the central Nigerian city, where traditionally pastoralist Hausa Muslims live in tense, close quarters with Christians from other ethnic groups.

The fighting began as clashes between supporters of the region's two main political parties following the first local election in the town of Jos in more than a decade. But the violence expanded along ethnic and religious fault lines, with Hausas and members of Christian ethnic groups doing battle.

Angry mobs gathered Thursday in Jos after electoral workers failed to publicly post results in ballot collation centers, prompting many onlookers to assume the vote was the latest in a long line of fraudulent Nigerian elections.

Riots flared Friday morning and at least 15 people were killed. Local ethnic and religious leaders made radio appeals for calm on Saturday, and streets were mostly empty by early afternoon. Troops were given orders to shoot rioters on sight.

The violence is the worst since the May 2007 inauguration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who came to power in a vote that international observers dismissed as not credible.

Few Nigerian elections have been deemed free and fair since independence from Britain in 1960, and military takeovers have periodically interrupted civilian rule.

More than 10,000 Nigerians have died in sectarian violence since civilian leaders took over from a former military junta in 1999. Political strife over local issues is common in Nigeria, where government offices control massive budgets stemming from the country's oil industry.

Nigeria: Muslim Violence Forces Christian Withdrawal from Peace Talks

By Michael Ireland

Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

NIGERIA (ANS) -- Violence in Kaduna which has claimed 1000 Christian lives and destroyed 63 churches just this year, "must stop" says the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),in a report from the U.K-based Barnabas Fund.

For three years, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has engaged in government-backed peace talks in the state of Kaduna with its Muslim counterpart, Jamutu'ul Nasir Islam (JNI). However, after the recent spate of attacks in which Islamic militants burnt down nine churches in Makarfi, CAN leaders say the peace process has been undermined.

As a result of the ongoing violence against Christians, CAN withdrew from the talks April 9 saying, "If we continue to dialogue with people when we doubt their sincerity and commitment to the peace which we are honestly pursuing, then the consequences will be grave, to our peril and enslavement."

North and Middle Belt Nigeria is plagued with frequent outbreaks of rioting between Muslims and Christians. Over 10,000 have been killed in such sectarian violence since 2000 when 12 Muslim-majority states in North Nigeria adopted Islamic law (shari'a).

Nigeria tense after clashes

6/10/2005 12:08  - (SA)  

Sokoto - Despite the restoration of relative peace in the Sokoto, Nigeria after three months of sectarian clashes, tension still envelops the city as mutual resentment and suspicion between the two feuding sects linger, residents said on Friday.

The clashes were between followers of rival Shia and Sunni Muslim sects.

At least seven people were killed and 53 houses were burnt or vandalised in the clashes that erupted ostensibly over control of the central mosque but which faction leaders, government officials and the police blame on politicians opposed to the state government.

Shia sect spokesperson Sidi Mannir said: "The attacks have stopped but we are not sure if the state government will be able to arrest the masterminds of the attacks and punish them, given their status and connections."

"Only the arrest and prosecution of the masterminds of the attacks will ensure lasting peace because if the arrests are limited to the thugs, the masterminds can recruit new squad from the army of hooligans around," he added.

Following the arrest by the police of Umar Dan-Maishiyya, a Sunni cleric suspected of fuelling the clashes, a Sunni mob went on rampage and burnt down a local government secretariat in Sokoto which led to a police crackdown and arrests were made.

Heavy police presence

Police patrol vehicles have been combing the dusty, refuse-littered streets since Friday, arresting thugs suspected of involvement in the clashes with the help of local vigilantes and rival groups did not participate in the violence.

"The vigilantes are only helping the police to effect the arrests because they know every thug and where to find him. They help our men access the deep recesses of the old city where the suspects live," said Sokoto state police spokesperson Muhammad Umar Dakin-Gari.

Fear of revenge

The involvement of the vigilantes in the clampdown on suspected trouble makers has been a source of concern to inhabitants of the city who fear gang fights between rival groups once the police are off the streets.

"My fear is the youths that have escaped arrest may not take it lightly on their rivals who sold them out to the authorities," Abdullahi Buhari, a civil servant, said while inspecting the carcass of his car that was burnt along with 24 others when Sunni rioters set the local government secretariat ablaze.

"The police operation has been hijacked by thugs and vigilantes who have taken the law into their hands, terrorising opponents and innocent people in the name of assisting the police. This could have a negative effect in the long run," said Sidi Alhaji.

The Shia followers view the formation of a reconciliation committee of clerics and traditional chiefs by the Sokoto sultan Muhammadu Maccido with distrust, alleging the committee is made up of people who sponsored the violence.

Nigeria swings between bloodshed and harmony

11 Apr 2007

By Tume Ahemba

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, April 11 (Reuters) - Nnamdi Okpala believes he still has a future in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri despite being a victim of repeated bouts of ethnic and religious violence.

Okpala is a Christian from the Ibo ethnic group, a minority in Maiduguri where Muslims from the Kanuri group dominate. He has lived and traded in the largely Islamic north for 21 years.

Last year, his shop was among dozens belonging to Christian Ibos that were looted and torched during riots in which Muslim mobs killed about 30 Christians.

"The crisis was the worst I have seen in all my stay here. We had to run for our dear lives after the rioters overwhelmed the police. By the time we came back, our shops had been looted and burnt," said Okpala, sitting with a group of Ibo traders in front of a row of shops, some still blackened by soot.

News of the killings in Maiduguri sparked reprisal attacks in the Ibo heartland in the southeast. Christian mobs there turned on northern Muslim traders, killing about 100 of them.

The Maiduguri riots and the tit-for-tat violence in the southeast were typical of Nigeria's volatile mix of ethnic diversity, religious rivalry and complex politics.

The ostensible cause of the riots was Muslim anger over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. But many local people said the violence was instigated by politicians because Maiduguri was scheduled to host a public hearing about a plan to extend the president's tenure, which was unpopular there.

Such eruptions of violence are not uncommon in Nigeria, where human rights groups estimate at least 15,000 people have died in religious or ethnic fighting since 1999 when elections returned Nigeria to democracy after three decades of almost continuous army rule.

But that statistic belies a broader picture of usually peaceful cohabitation in Nigeria, whose 140 million people are split into about 250 ethnic groups and divided roughly equally between Muslims and Christians.

Okpala said the violence, when it occurs, is orchestrated by politicians and radical Islamic preachers who use ethnicity and religion to manipulate people for their own cynical ends.

MUSLIM PRESIDENT

For now, he places his hope in the expected election on April 21 of a northern Muslim to be the next president after eight years of Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian and an ethnic Yoruba from the southwest.

The two main candidates, Umaru Yar'Adua and Muhammadu Buhari, are both Muslim from Katsina state in the north.

"These senseless killings will reduce when a northerner is president because his Muslim brethren will see him as their own man and won't want to cause trouble for his government," said Okpala.

Obasanjo is due to step down next month after elections marking the first transition from one elected leader to another since independence from Britain in 1960.

The major parties have nominated Muslim flagbearers from the northern part of the country in the spirit of an unwritten agreement by the political elite that the presidency alternates between the north and the south.

"There is no cause for alarm because a reasonable Muslim president may even be better than a bad Christian president," said Reverend Nevin Mshelia, secretary general of the Christian Association of Nigeria's branch in Maiduguri.

Obasanjo has implemented economic reforms that have won praise from Western powers and the private sector, but many northerners feel they have exacerbated an economic imbalance between the south and the poorer north.

"Obasanjo's government has empowered the south and neglected the north," said Audu Maishanu, a 59-year-old car and real estate dealer, sheltering under a tree from the scorching sun in Maiduguri, on the fringes of the Sahel.

"You can hardly get petrol at any filling station in the north. It has been so for eight years," he said, pointing at a group of teenagers hawking fuel in jerrycans by the roadside.

Maishanu said: "Almost all the textile industries in the north have shut down. Anyone that Allah chooses as the next president will surely reverse all this."

Borno, where Maiduguri is located, is one of 12 northern states that imposed provisions of Islamic sharia law into the criminal justice system in 2000, a politically motivated move by state governors that alienated Christians and sparked violence.

But in Maiduguri, residents of all ethnic and religious backgrounds gather in the evenings at Wurali, an area the size of a soccer field filled with shanties, to drink beer or local gin despite sharia restrictions.

"Here there is no religion or ethnicity, we are all united by Bacchus," said a senior Muslim police officer, asking not to be named.

NIGERIA: Children dying needlessly from measles and other preventable diseases

11 Jul 2007 20:00:07 GMT

Source: IRIN

LAGOS, 11 July 2007 (IRIN) - Measles is a preventable disease yet when it strikes in Nigeria it finds a ready pool of victims most of whom are children.

In June more than 50 children died while another 400 were hospitalised in Nigeria's northeast Borno state following a measles outbreak.

The viral disease, transmitted both by air and by bodily fluids, was first reported on 19 June in the village of Njimtilo in the outskirts of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, and then quickly spread to five adjoining local areas including Konduga, Jere, Damboa, Bama and metropolitan Maiduguri.

Health officials have frequently blamed low immunisation rates for such outbreaks, as well as outbreaks of polio, diphtheria and tuberculosis. A 2005 World Health Organisation (WHO) survey found that 72 percent of measles cases in Nigeria occurred in children under five years old, three-quarters of whom had not been immunised.

Measles can strike as much as 90 percent of an un-immunised population.

Despite Nigeria's oil wealth only 12.7 percent of children under five years old are fully immunised against childhood diseases. That rate is among the lowest rates anywhere in the world, according to WHO.

One reason for the low coverage, WHO says, is the decrepit health services sector which lacks funding and proper infrastructure and management.

Emeka Iwobi, a paediatric doctor based in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, told IRIN that poverty and ignorance also play a part. "Most of those who need [vaccines] are too poor to afford them or may not know they need them,"

Some 70 percent of the population of 140 million lives on less than US $1 a day, many in unhygienic conditions that favour the spread of disease.

Most people often lack access to basic medical care. Nigeria was 187th out of 191 countries in a WHO global ranking of performance of health systems, coming ahead of only DR Congo, Central African Republic, Myanmar and Sierra Leone.

The worst affected states in Nigeria are those in the Muslim north. Immunisation efforts in the region have suffered major setbacks because some radical Muslim preachers there are suspicious of Western medicine. The preachers have claimed that the polio vaccination programme was part of plot to reduce the Muslim population.

In 2004 authorities in the mostly Muslim state of Kano suspended polio vaccination for 10 months to conduct tests to determine if the vaccines contained sterilising agents or the AIDS virus, as critics had alleged.

In other parts of northern Nigeria communities systematically boycotted efforts to immunise their children.

"The polio boycott has had a ripple effect on immunisation efforts of other childhood diseases," said a senior official of the National Programme on Immunisation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We can't make much progress unless we overcome the negative perception," he said.

Nigerian Sunnis, Shiites clash after cleric shot

The Associated Press

Published: July 19, 2007

SOKOTO, Nigeria: Clashes between Muslim sects left at least one dead after the shooting of a popular cleric in northern Nigeria, witnesses said Thursday. The cleric later died.

An Associated Press reporter saw the corpse of one man who had been beaten to death by a mob after being accused in the shooting of Sunni cleric Umar Danshiya, who is well-known for his anti-Shiite sermons, at a mosque in the capital of the desert state of Sokoto on Wednesday.

Nura Mohammed, who was taking the cleric home by motorbike taxi, said that three gunmen on motorbikes shot the cleric in the forehead after he finished leading a morning prayer.

The sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual head of Nigeria's Muslims, announced on Thursday that Danshiya had died that morning after lapsing into a coma. Sultan Mohammadu Sa'ad Abubakar appealed for calm, saying on local radio stations: "Do not take the law into your own hands ... the security agencies are investigating."

The body was being washed in preparation for burial in accordance with Islamic rites, the sultan said. At the news of Danshiya's death, several of his supporters cut branches from the trees with machetes and fixed them to their vehicles, a common form of protest in Nigeria.

Earlier, a mob of Danshiya's followers wielding sticks and machetes attacked several Shiites in retaliation for the attack on Danshiya. Nigerian soldiers and police set up roadblocks and patrolled the streets on Thursday with rifles and tear gas.

Nigeria's 140 million people are roughly equally divided between Muslims and Christians. The country is the frequent scene of ethnic and religious clashes. Thousands of people have been killed since the end of military rule eight years ago. Residents say that ethnic or political differences are often exploited by powerful local figures for economic and political reasons.

Most Nigerian Muslims are Sunni, as are most Muslims throughout the world. The Sunni-Shiite doctrinal split dates to the early days of Islam, and tensions between the sects are not unusual.

Associated Press Writer Salisu Rabiu contributed to this report from Kano, Nigeria

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