Dozens Of Christians Killed In Nigeria After Previous Massacre
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ABUJA (Worthy News) – Dozens of Christians have been killed in Nigeria in recent days, several sources said after Worthy News already reported the killing of more than 100 Christians by Islamists since May 24 in the troubled African nation.
Fulani herdsmen killed at least nine Christians this week in Nigeria’s northern Plateau state, following “the slaughter” of 27 others days before, Christians said.
The attacks took place in Bokkos County in the predominantly Christian communities of Hokk, Pangkap, Fokoldep, Kopmur, Margif, Horop, Mbor, Mushere, and Kwahas, news outlets Christian Daily International and Morning Star News quoted residents as saying.
Resident Emmanuel Auta reportedly said nine Christians were killed in the Mushere area of Bokkos County on Sunday and Monday, June 1-2. “Bokkos has never been this insecure, with Christians being butchered like what we are currently witnessing,” Auta said in published remarks.
“Two Christians were killed on Sunday, June 1, and an additional seven Christians were killed on Monday, June 2, all in the Mushere area of Bokkos Local Government Area.”
Another resident, Lilian Madaki, said the herdsmen had been attacking Bokkos County villages days before. “For six days, Fulanis have continued to attack our communities, which are predominantly Christian villages,” Madaki added in a reported text message.
“Among some of the Christian victims that I know is a 14-year-old Christian teenager who was shot and wounded and is currently being treated at a hospital.”
MORE ATTACKS
Resident Dorcas Ishaya added that herdsmen on May 27 attacked Mbor, Margif, and Mijing, “all Christian villages, and set fire to houses and killed many Christians. The attacks occurred at about 11 p.m.”
Late Monday night, June 2, the herdsmen “invaded the predominantly Christian villages of Hokk, Pangkap, and Fokoldep and were still shooting when area resident Yakubu Kefas sent an alert to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News on Tuesday, June 3.”
Christians are “currently under intense and sustained gunfire from Fulani terrorist elements in Hokk, Pangkap, and Fokoldep Christian communities in Bokkos Local Government Area,” Kefas explained.
The attacks began at about 11 p.m. local time the night before, he said. “The attackers, who we believe are Fulani terrorists, are carrying out indiscriminate shootings, killings, and large-scale arson, resulting in widespread terror, Christian casualties, and destruction of property,” Kefas recalled.
Residents also reported the May 27 kidnapping and killing of the Reverend Mimang Lekyil, the 70-year-old pastor of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) congregation in the Kwahas area of Mushere.
Masara Kim, a Christian journalist from the area, said 11 other area Christians were killed on May 25. “The full name of the slain cleric is Reverend Mimang Lekyil; he was a pastor in charge of COCIN Kwahas, Kawel in Mushere,” Kim told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “It was a case of kidnap. The pastor’s wife broke her leg during the incident; 11 other Christians were also killed in Bokkos on Sunday, May 25.”
Herdsmen killed eight Christians in Kopmur village and another seven in Mbor community, said area resident Nanlop Joy. “These are all Christian villages,” Joy added.
POLICE DEPLOYED
Police have been deployed to the communities alongside military personnel, officials said. “Those responsible for this would be made to face justice as the Plateau State Police Command would not leave any stone unturned in the bid to ensure that the perpetrators face the law,” pledged command spokesman Emmanuel Adesina.
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, experts say.
However, some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, Britain’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 area 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 among the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, according to the advocacy group Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List (WWL) of the 50 countries where it says it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Of the 4,476 Christians killed for their faith worldwide during the reporting period, 3,100, 69 percent were in Nigeria, according to the WWL.
WWL METHODOLOGY
“The measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible under World Watch List methodology,” the report stated, adding that Nigeria ranks 7th on the annual WWL.
In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attacks farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to investigators.
Islamic groups designated as terrorist organizations by authorities, such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states.
Nigeria’s government has come under pressure to increase security as Christians reportedly face raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, while kidnappings for ransom have also risen in recent years.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, “armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda,” according to WWL investigators.
Lakurawa is linked to the Al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
This week’s reported killings came after more than 100 Christians, including children, pastors, farmers, and “even people attending a funeral,” were killed in three Nigerian states, Worthy News reported earlier, citing Open Doors.
Around 5,000 Christians were reportedly displaced in those attacks by Islamist militants. They are among an estimated 16.2 million believers in sub-Saharan Africa forced to leave their homes, often due to anti-Christian attacks.
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