Nigeria: Fulani murder 11 in Benue State Christian community, “I suspect a grand plan to annihilate us”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Fulani jihadist militants murdered at least 11 people in Nigeria’s majority-Christian Benue State on June 12, in an ongoing slaughter of Christians in the north of the country, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

The June 12 attack took place at 5.30 am in Igama village, a small community in Benue State, ICC reports. ICC sources said armed Fulani militants arrived and began shooting in the air. As residents began to flee their homes, at least 11 people were killed.

“The situation is erratic as the Fulani jihadists came when people were sleeping and unaware,” a local resident told ICC. “

The people of the community are right now thrown into perpetual fear of uncertainty.”

The Nigerian government has consistently downplayed the situation in which 43,000 Christians have been murdered by jihadist terrorists between 2009-2021: the government has tried to frame the violence as mere fighting over grazing rights and has done next to nothing to stop the slaughter.

However, Christians on the ground have told rights groups they believe the jihadists are intent on destroying Christian communities so as to impose Sharia law on the whole of Nigeria. “I suspect a grand plan to annihilate us because, despite the presence of security personnel in and around the local government, the attack still happened after all,” the local resident told ICC after the June 12 attack.

Several international human rights groups, including Genocide Watch and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, have long warned of genocide against Christians in Nigeria, so far to little avail.

Nigeria ranked number one in the world last year for the number of Christians killed by jihadists.

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