Terrorists Kill 10 Christians in Central Nigeria
The assailants separated into three groups and attacked Mcia, Arufu, and Chembe villages in Logo County, Benue State, simultaneously at about 8:30 p.m., residents said.
The assailants separated into three groups and attacked Mcia, Arufu, and Chembe villages in Logo County, Benue State, simultaneously at about 8:30 p.m., residents said.
Two other residents corroborated the account, including Joseph Anawah, who said in a text message, “In the latest onslaughts against Christians in the three communities of Arufu, Mchia, and Chembe in Benue State, Muslim Fulani terrorists have killed 10 Christians.”
The Rev. Jonathan Adagbe, a Logo Local Government Council member, confirmed the attacks.
“Armed Fulani herdsmen, in collaboration with Muslim terrorists, attacked three of our communities, Mchia, Arufu, and Chembe, on Sunday, January 7,” he said, while an area Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Michael Mchia, responded to an inquiry with the same information.
“It’s disheartening that these attacks have been ongoing without abating,” Mchia said. “In similar attacks last year, 12 Christians were killed in attacks by terrorists and herdsmen against these Christian communities.”
Terlumun Uke, another Logo County resident, said that on December 26, a Christian in his village of Tse Abur Norsua was also slain.
“The armed Fulani herdsmen on December 26, as we were celebrating Christmas, killed a Christian member of the NKST [Universal Reformed Christian Church] church by the name of Abur “Terkuma,” U” said. “He was shot and killed at Tse Abur Norsua, a village in Logo Local Government.”
Benue State has suffered similar slaughters. Fulani herders and other terrorists killed six Christians in the process on October 29, following the slaughter of 10 others earlier that month. On July 16, Fulani herders and other terrorists killed six Christians in Ushongo County, Benue State, the latest of 37 Christians slain over three weeks in the state.
Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2022, with 5,014, according to Doors’ 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report. It also led the world in Christians being abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted or harassed, forcibly married, or physically or mentally abused, and it had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. As in the previous year, Nigeria had the second most church attacks and internally displaced people.
In the 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is most challenging to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to sixth place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 7 the previous” year.
“Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping, and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery,” the WWL report” noted. “This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of Nigeria’s Nigeria’s government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violating Christians’ rights is carried out with “impunity.”
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. Still, some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the 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 stated that they think the motive for herdsmen’s attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is their desire to occupy Christians’ lands and impose Islam because desertification has made it difficult for them to support their herds.
