Christians in Nigeria are crying out for protection from persistent atrocities and abductions, bemoaning the helplessness and inaction of local authorities and pinning their hopes on the international community, writes MorningStarNews.
Fulani herdsmen killed six Christians in a village in Benue State on November 1-2, 2024, before killing 15 Christians in a neighboring village in two days. According to a local resident, Terwase Awande, the Islamist herdsmen attacked the Christian majority village of Ayilomo in Logos State on November 1. «The Fulani bandits invaded the village and started shooting at the locals, killing six Christians, — Awande narrated. — All our dead community members — were farmers. They were returning from their fields the moment the bandits invaded the community ».
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«Our residents are now afraid to labor on their plots because of the threat of attacks, — lamented in interviews with Christian Daily International and Morning Star News Paul Adetsav, a community elder in Ailomo. — Fulani herdsmen continue to attack us almost daily, killing Christians at their will with impunity, burning our houses and temples. The crops we have tended on our allotments, are also completely wiped out by armed bandits. Famine has come upon us like an epidemic, slowly killing us and our children, as we have had nothing to eat for a long time. Already, more than 400,000 Christians in the surrounding communities have been forced to flee, abandoning their homes and farms due to the incessant attacks and massacres.
A local resident, Joe Iormumbe, testifies that 15 Christians were killed by Islamist herdsmen in Anyin village in the same Logos County on October 30, while another villager, Johnson Kwar, specifies that the raid lasted from 7pm to 9pm. Village elder Joseph Anawa gave the names of some of the Christians killed as Orihunda Ati, Zaki Mbaterna, Tordu Suswama, Uyange Chembe and John Chembe. A villager, Adegwa Uba, pleaded for protection to the Nigerian authorities and the world through Christian Daily International and Morning Star News. «We pray the world to hear our desperate cry, — says Uba. — Our communities in Gamba-Tiyewa are being systematically decimated by ruthless Fulani bandits. The bloodshed is unabated, with 21 innocent people killed in Anyin last week alone. Our villages of Anyin, Ailamo, Uzer, Iorza, Mchiya and Chembe are constantly under ferocious attacks by the Islamist herdsmen, they mercilessly kill even children, women and the elderly like animals»
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Christian laments that the bandits alone kill or hijack the and the rest are stripped of their homes, crops and livelihoods, starving and exiling entire populous Christian communities. «The security forces are only collecting bodies and writing reports, but they are unable to prevent the attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice, — Uba laments. — The inaction and helplessness of the authorities horrifies us and their silence is staggering. Our political leaders have stayed away, leaving us alone to face this horror and atrocity. We call on the authorities to take urgent measures to protect the people, we ask the security forces to give utmost priority to preventing banditry and prosecuting the criminals. We appeal to the international community for intervention and assistance. We are dying here! Please hear our cry for rescue»"
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Clement Ukav, the district council chairman in Logose County, assures that government is doing everything possible to stop the violence. «We are all saddened by the suffering of the people and we know that for many years, our people have been losing lives and property to attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen, — Ukaw disclosed. — However, I can assure that government is doing everything necessary to stop these attacks and massacres». He echoed police press officer Catherine Anene, who told Christian Daily International and Morning Star News that police have full information about attacks on farmers in Logos County and are investigating each case, while authorities are deploying security personnel to the affected and threatened areas.
Nigeria remains the world's most dangerous country for followers of Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023.
Nigeria remains the world's most dangerous country for followers of Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith in the country between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2023, according to a report by the human rights organization Open Doors. In its list of Christianity-hunting countries titled «2024 World Watch List» (2024 World Watch List), Nigeria, like last year, holds a high sixth place. The country also experienced more abductions of Christians than any other country in the world — 3,300. The country ranked third in the world in attacks on churches and other Christian institutions (hospitals, schools and cemeteries) — 750 of them were recorded, according to the report.
The country also ranked third in the world in attacks on churches and other Christian institutions (hospitals, schools and cemeteries).
The Fulani tribes, numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, are mostly practicing Muslims of a wide variety of interpretations, including radical ones, and are made up of hundreds of clans from a wide variety of backgrounds. Not all of them hold extremist views, but some Fulani adhere to radical Islamist ideology. This is noted by the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) in its report for 2020. «They follow the same strategies as Boko Haram* and the Islamic State* of West Africa (ISWAP) in terms of attacks on Christians and great symbols of the Christian faith» — the APPG report emphasizes. Christian clergy in Nigeria say the attacks by Islamist herdsmen on Christian communities in Nigeria's midlands are motivated by their desire to take over the lands of Christians by force and impose Islam on the surviving population because their own lands are devastated and barren due to overgrazing and the tribes need new pastures.
Islamists are constantly kidnapping Christian priests in the country. Rev. Emmanuel Azubuike, a parish priest of St. Theresa's Catholic Parish Church in Obollo town (Isiala-Mbano County in Imo State in the southeast of the country), was abducted on the evening of November 5 by armed men as he was returning from pastoral labors in neighboring villages. According to the Catholic Diocese of Okigwe, Father Azubuike was ambushed on the highway. «We appeal to all. to co-religionists and ask for your fervent prayers that he is returned to us safe and sound; — reads a statement by Rev. Will Iwuanyanwu, Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Okigwe.
A Catholic priest, Thomas Oyode, has been kidnapped in Edo State, southwest Nigeria.
In Edo state in southwestern Nigeria, Catholic priest Thomas Oyode has been the victim of a kidnapping. Armed bandits grabbed him on the evening of October 27 at the Immaculate Conception Primary Seminary in Iwianokpodi-Agenebode village in Etsako County, where he serves as rector. A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Rev. Peter Egilewa, later disclosed that Fr. Ojode was released from captivity on November 6 near Ajaokuti village in Kogi State. The kidnappers are known to have demanded a ransom of 200 million naira (about 120,000 US dollars), but the diocese has not disclosed the final ransom amount or other terms of his release.
Also on Oct. 26, gunmen kidnapped Anglican priest David Arinze Ajafobi in Anambra state in southeastern Nigeria. According to witness Chukwudi Nwankwor, Father Ajafobi was grabbed at the entrance to his parish church of St. James in Awkuzu village in Oyi County. Tochukwu Ikenga, the spokesman of the police command in Anambra State, assured that the police were investigating the crime.
Islamist herdsmen kidnap and laymen. For instance, a local resident, Festus Audu, testifies about kidnappings in the Christian majority villages of Mai-Iddo and Arikon in Kachia County, Kaduna State. «Fulani bandits armed with deadly weapons abducted four Christians on November 1 while they were working on their plots, — Audu told publications Christian Daily International and MorningStarNews. — This is the second invasion of Mai-Iddo village in two months. Earlier, on October 17, they abducted four Christian women and a child in it and took them away at gunpoint».MorningStarNews.
In the same village of Mai Goro, a high-profile kidnapping of Christian women happened this spring. According to local resident Peter Madaki, Fulani Islamists attacked a Christian village on May 19 and took away seven young Christian women and girls at gunpoint. They are Elizabeth Marcus, 13; Alheri Maichibi, 13; Lydia Elijah, 6; Bridget Obadiah, 4; Amama Hassan, 3; Godia James, 30; and Beauty Mandela, 23. The fates of the hapless women and girls are unknown to this day.
*Terrorist organizations
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