ABUJA, Nigeria Per reports, individuals identified as Fulani herders in a particular region of Plateau State were involved in the killing of a Christian on Thursday, September 26. Additionally, on September 15, eight other Christians lost their lives in a separate area of the state.
According to local Lawrence Zango, armed herders ambushed and killed a Christian farmer during the attack on Hwrra village in Miango District, Bassa County, on Thursday, September 26.
Zango reported that the Christian farmer succumbed to injuries sustained in a machete attack. In the Miango District of Bassa LGA, he also brought attention to the tragic events that are still going on there, where Fulani herders have been attacking communities regularly.
According to local David Zino, Fulani herders killed six Christians in Mbar town on September 15 and two more in Kwatas Bargesh village in Bokkos County. He claimed to have abducted another Christian in the city of Rafut.
Herders on September 13 at 11 a.m. also raided Kopyal village, on the outskirts of Bokkos town, but no lives were lost, said area resident Steve Mallau.
On September 3 in Daffo town, armed Fulanis shot and killed “about six Christians” and wounded another, said Blessing Yakubu, a resident of the area, in a text message to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. Six Christians had died, according to Rhoda Sanda, and one person had been admitted to the hospital.
“Shalom Enoch, who is presently undergoing treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), is among the Christian victims of the Daffo attack by these herdsmen,” Sanda stated in a text message.
Daffo community leader Farmasum Fuddang, an attorney, said he lamented the “incessant attacks.”
“We are saddened to report that our communities have been under constant attack by terrorists identifying themselves as Fulani herders,” Fuddang said in a press statement. “Despite our repeated calls for intervention, the violence persists.”
More than ten farmers in Mbar are currently mourning the loss of their farms, which were destroyed in night raids by the terrorists, he said.
“This attack occurred while the residents were still grieving the brutal murder of six community members killed in an evening attack on September 15,” Fuddang said. “The terrorists herded over 1,000 cattle into the farms, destroying grown crops awaiting harvest.
These farms, measuring over 1,500 acres, belong to poor community members struggling to recover from previous attacks.”
He claimed that the goal of destroying the farms was to render the people in the predominantly Christian area economically helpless.
According to the speaker, the most recent attacks took place on September 3 in Daffo and Tarangol and on September 15 in Mbar, which tragically resulted in the deaths of six members of our community.
“At 11 p.m., there was intermittent gunfire by Fulani herdsmen in the village of Kopyal, which is located just outside of Bokkos town. Meanwhile, the previous day, they attacked and kidnapped a helpless woman in Rafut village.”
He claimed that in addition to the thousands of hectares of farmland that the herders destroyed, the community is mourning the deaths of more than 100 people this year.
“It leads us to question why the Fulani have never stopped carrying weapons, terrorizing our people, and getting away with it, but the opposite is not true?” he said.
“We call upon our people to be peaceful but security consciously alert.”
On September 13, the Mbar community’s Issac Wallam succumbed to machete wounds from Fulanis, he said, adding that the area has been under constant attack since November 2023.
Gyang Bere, a Plateau Gov. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang spokesman, said the unprovoked attacks by herders sadden the governor.
“Gov. Caleb Mutfwang has expressed deep sorrow over the brutal killing of innocent individuals by gunmen in Daffo and Kwatas communities of Bokkos Local Government Area,” Bere said in a press statement. “Gov. Mutfwang condemns these attacks and describes them as tragic and intolerable.
He directed security agencies to intensify efforts to apprehend the perpetrators of the heinous act and bring them to justice.”
Three months prior, in Bassa County’s Miango District, herders also attacked Hwrra village on June 26, killing five Christians near Kwall town, including two children, said community leader Sam Jugo. He identified those killed as Jummai Matthew, 67; Martha Danladi, 13; Menshack Matthew, 18; Bari John, 30; and Robert Sunday, 7.
According to Jugo, the herders shot and injured another Christian who was still receiving medical care in Jos.
“Maryamu Sunday, who was severely injured, is presently receiving medical attention at a medical facility in Jos,” he said.
The witness added that the attack destroyed three Christian homes. The witness added that the attack destroyed three Christian homes.
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.
Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from October 1, 2022, to September 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 several 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.