Abuja, Nigeria: On Tuesday, a group of predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen reportedly attacked Christian farmers in Plateau State, resulting in injuries to four individuals.
In Lwa village, Bachi District, Riyom County, three individuals were subjected to an attack while tending to their farm work.
The Fulani herders also attacked another person while attempting to flee the location.
The Berom Youth Moulders Association’s president, Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, disclosed this information in a press release.
Mwantiri said the Christians were able to identify some of the 20 heavily armed assailants as local Muslim Fulani herdsmen living in settlements near the predominantly Christian villages of Lwa, Fan, Shonong, Dum, Rachid, and Bangai.
“The farmers were working on their farms around the Seheng area of the village, and as a result of the attack on the farmers, four of them sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Mwantiri said. “One of the Christian victims, Caleb Bachen, 32, was shot and wounded. One of his hands was fractured and shattered.”
Bachen said from his health center bed that he was working when he heard sounds of gunfire from a nearby farm.
“Suddenly, I heard cries of anguish from other farmers working on their farms close by,” Bachen told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News by telephone. “I heard them screaming and calling for help. At this moment, I knew herdsmen were attacking them.”
He quickly left his farm and tried fleeing to his village, he said.
“Herdsmen with guns and machetes unexpectedly attacked me as I was returning home,” Bachen claimed.
I was injured and abandoned, and I thought I was lifeless as I lay there bleeding.
I was quickly brought to the hospital for medical attention after the attack. Consequently, the Plateau State Police confirmed the incident and promptly initiated their investigations.
Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in the number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings, such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most challenging to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as in 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. However, 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.
Since desertification has made it harder for herders to maintain their herds, Christian leaders in Nigeria have stated that they believe the reason behind herders’ attacks on Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is their intention to impose Islam and seize Christian lands.