Herdsmen Kill Christians in Plateau State, Central Nigeria 

Kadish Kenneth Gbiang, one of six Christians killed on Sept. 15, 2024 in Bokkos County, Plateau state, Nigeria. (David Zino, Facebook)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen killed a Christian on Thursday (Sept. 26) in one area of Plateau state after the killing of eight others on Sept. 15 in another part of the state, sources said.

In the attack on Hwrra village in Miango District, Bassa County on Thursday (Sept. 26), armed herdsmen ambushed and killed a Christian farmer, said area resident Lawrence Zango.

“The Christian farmer was attacked with a machete, and he died from wounds inflicted on him,” Zango said. “Tragic events have continued to unfold in Miango District, Bassa LGA, where communities have faced repeated attacks by Fulani herdsmen.”

On Sept. 15 in Bokkos County, Fulani herdsmen killed six Christians in Mbar town and two others in Kwatas Bargesh village, area resident David Zino said. Another Christian was kidnapped from Rafut village, he said.

Herdsmen on Sept. 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 Sept. 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. Area resident Rhoda Sanda also said six Christians were slain and one hospitalized.

“One of the Christian victims of the Daffo attack by these herdsmen is one Shalom Enoch, who’s currently receiving treatment at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH),” Sanda said 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 10 farmers in Mbar are currently mourning the loss of their farms, which were destroyed in night raids 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 Sept. 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 who were already struggling to recover from previous attacks.”

The destruction of farms were aimed at economically crippling people in the predominantly Christian area, he said.

“The latest attacks occurred in Daffo and Tarangol on Sept. 3, and in Mbar on Sept. 15, when six of our community members were killed in Mbar,” he said. “There was sporadic shooting by Fulani herdsmen in the village of Kopyal just outside Bokkos town at 11 p.m. Meanwhile, the previous day they attacked and kidnapped a helpless woman in Rafut village.”

The community is mourning the loss of more than 100 people who have been killed or injured this year, as well as thousands of hectares of farmland destroyed by the herdsmen, he said.

“We are persuaded to ask, why are the Fulani always free to carry arms and terrorize our people and going scot-free, while the reverse is not the case?” he said. “We call upon our people to be peaceful but security consciously alert.”

On Sept. 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 spokesman for Plateau Gov. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, said the governor is saddened by the unprovoked attacks by herdsmen.

“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 both 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, herdsmen 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.

Another Christian was shot and wounded by the herdsmen and was still receiving hospital treatment in Jos, Jugo said.

“Maryamu Sunday, who was severely injured, is presently receiving medical attention at a medical facility in Jos,” he said.

The houses of three Christians were also razed in the attack, he 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 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.

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 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 difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.

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