Fulani Assaults in Plateau State, Nigeria Kill 11 Christians
The Rev. Bitrus Saleh Africa, ECWA pastor killed in Lere County, Kaduna state, Nigeria on Feb. 5, 2025. (Fb)
ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Each day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – Fulani herdsmen killed a Christian and kidnapped 4 others in Plateau state, Nigeria, on Feb. 1 after massacring greater than 10 others Jan. 27-31 in the identical state, sources mentioned.
Fulani herdsmen attacked Shendai village in Namu District, Qua’an Pan County at about 9 p.m. on Feb. 1, mentioned space resident Matthew Tegha.
“The kidnapped 4 victims have been taken away by their captors at gunpoint,” Tegha instructed Christian Each day Worldwide-Morning Star Information, with different residents, native council officers and a navy spokesman corroborating the account.
In 5 days of assaults in Mangu County starting Jan. 27, Fulani herdsmen killed greater than 10 Christians in Lightlubang, Chisu and Jwakkom villages, space residents mentioned.
“Pricey God, please come to our support. We want you right here in Mangu, Plateau State. My coronary heart bleeds,” mentioned Nanbam Denan in a textual content message to Christian Each day Worldwide-Morning Star Information. “The assaults began on Monday, Jan. 27, and lasted to Friday, 31 January.”
Caleb Joseph of Lightlubang mentioned “Fulani bandits” killed three members of a household there, a pair and their youngster, on Jan. 31.
“The husband, spouse and their child have been attacked whereas they have been sleeping,” Joseph mentioned. “So additionally, two different Christians, a pair, have been killed similar to the opposite victims.”
Lightitlubang resident Moses Bankat corroborated the Jan. 31 assaults.
“Terrorists we all know to be Fulani herdsmen invaded Lighitlubang village and killed 5 Christians – a person, his spouse and a toddler, alongside one other Christian couple,” Bankat mentioned. “The victims have been slaughtered by the terrorists.”
On the identical day in Chisu village, herdsmen killed a whole household – husband, spouse and three kids, Joseph mentioned.
Bankat mentioned that herdsmen on Jan. 28 attacked Jwakkom village, the place different Christians have been killed.
Alfred Alabo, spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, mentioned officers and navy personnel have been deployed to the villages and investigations started.
In neighboring Kaduna state, Lere County, a funeral for the Rev. Bitrus Saleh Africa was held on Saturday (Feb. 8) on the Evangelical Church Successful All (ECWA) church, Farfaru, after his loss of life by the hands of herdsmen on Feb. 5, when three different Christians additionally have been slain – the Maitala Madaki, Iliya Kasada and Ishaya Luka.
Pastor Africa had served with the ECWA in Majagada village.
The Akurmi Improvement Affiliation (AKURDA) condemned the Feb. 5 killings and the kidnapping of 12 different Christians within the assault that left three others wounded.
“AKURDA strongly condemns the barbaric act of killing, injuring, and abducting harmless folks within the Majagada group,” Maigamo Yakubu, nationwide president of the affiliation, and spokesman Pius Kyauta Agaji mentioned in a joint assertion. “The assault, which began round midnight and prolonged into the early hours of the morning, resulted within the lack of 4 lives.”
Kidnapped within the assault have been Godiya Istifanus, 35; Blissful Awaje, 14; Rachael Istifanus, 21; Agnes Yusuf, 23; Nchiye Haukuri, 26; Divine Haukuri, 14; Habila Digga, 34; Martha Ibrahim, 27; Consolation Yusuf, 29; Nahum Tanko, 40; Zakka Tanko, 30; and James Tanko, 27.
AKUDA recognized these wounded as Bawa Samaila, Thomas Bawa and Peter Maitala.
They known as on Nigerian authorities to behave decisively in rescuing the Christians kidnapped and be sure that assaults by terrorists are delivered to a halt.
“We urge the safety businesses and people in energy to intervene promptly and make sure the protected launch of the kidnapped people. We additionally name for elevated safety measures to stop future assaults,” they mentioned.
Nigeria remained among the many most harmful locations on earth for Christians, in response to Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Checklist of the international locations the place it’s most diffiucult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for his or her religion worldwide in the course of the reporting interval, 3,100 (69 p.c) have been in Nigeria, in response to the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence within the nation is already on the most potential beneath World Watch Checklist methodology,” the report said.
Within the nation’s North-Central zone, the place Christians are extra frequent than they’re within the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia assault farming communities, killing many a whole lot, Christians above all, in response to the report. Jihadist teams akin to Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), amongst others, are additionally lively within the nation’s northern states, the place federal authorities management is scant and Christians and their communities proceed to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, in response to the report. Abductions for ransom have elevated significantly lately.
The violence has unfold to southern states, and a brand new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged within the northwest, armed with superior weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL famous. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL record of the 50 worst international locations for Christians.
Numbering within the tens of millions throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise a whole lot of clans of many various lineages who don’t maintain extremist views, however some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the UK’s All-Get together Parliamentary Group for Worldwide Freedom or Perception (APPG) famous in a 2020 report.
“They undertake a comparable technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and exhibit a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian id,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have mentioned they consider herdsmen assaults on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Center Belt are impressed by their want to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it troublesome for them to maintain their herds.
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