Urgent Prayer: Pastor, 16 Church Members Kidnapped in Nigeria

by Lindy Lowry in Africa, Stories of Persecution

Our field has just alerted us that 17 Christians in Nigeria have been kidnapped from a church. The group of church members, which includes a pastor, his daughter at least and at least nine other women, had gathered in the church for a choir practice.

Police confirmed that on Saturday, May 18, around midnight an estimated 20 unidentified gunmen entered Unguwar Kuli village, a border community between Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State and Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State.

“The gunmen started shooting sporadically, went and intercepted some church members while closing from service,” according to the report.

Reportedly, the attackers surrounded the church where the choir practice was taking place and “just started shooting,” a witness in Dankade village told Nigerian newspaper The Cable.

“It was at about 12:30 midnight,” the witness said. “We had a combined choir practice in the church with other neighboring communities. Everybody was terrified but there was no how we could run because they had already surrounded the church.”

The Christian Association of Nigeria reports that the kidnappers are demanding N30 million ($83,100) in ransom.

This attack and recent others indicate ever-increasing insecurity in Nigeria, which is preparing for its presidential inauguration. Please be in prayer with us. One of our field workers in the country shared: “This has brought fear to the believers around the area and also tears to the families. Please, they need the prayers of the believers.”

This part of Nigeria is likely to be infested with radical Fulani Herdsmen, rather than Boko Haram. But these are not the only Muslim terrorist groups operating in Nigeria, though some may be just criminal gangs.

Katsina State, Nigeria

Christian Genocide: Nigerian Gov't Enables; Fulani Herdsmen Worse Than Boko Haram

Killing In The Name Of Islam: Christian Death Toll Rises To 1,870 In 190 Days With Fresh 120 Killed In First Seven Days Of July 2018

This report reached me eventually from a Muslim Imam who is horrified at the genocide and is begging Islamic media to cover the slaughter. Western media continues to ignore this because of their anti-Christian bias. This is to their great shame and impending judgment!

By Intersociety

At least 1870 Christians murdered in 2018

(Intersociety, Nigeria: 11th July 2018) - No fewer than 120 defenseless Christians have been killed by members of Jihadist Brigades under the color of Fulani Herdsmen in Adamawa and Taraba States alone in first seven days of July 2018. The figure did not include scores of others killed during the same period in other parts of old Middle Belt. This brings the total number of defenseless Christians killed in Nigeria in the name of Islam to 1,870 in the past six and quarter months of 2018-1st January to 10th July 2018.

When added to other defenseless Christians killed in the past three years or from 1st June 2015 to 10th July 2018 by trio of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Boko Haram insurgents and Zamfara Bandits, the total Christian deaths in Nigeria since then are 8,920, out of which Jihadist Brigades under the color of Fulani Herdsmen killed 5,400. 

Federal Government of Nigeria had also in the past three years ordered and supervised the killing of no fewer than 1,014 defenseless Christians while Boko Haram Islamic insurgents and Zamfara Bandits killed no fewer than 2,450 and 80 others respectively.

On the other hand, Muslims to fellow Muslims’ killings in Nigeria have resulted to 4, 470 deaths in the past three years including dozens of dead Muslims recently found inside Zamfara forest-presumed to be victims of Zamfara Bandits’ cattle rustling violence. Out of estimated 4,470 Muslim-Muslim deaths, the Federal Government ordered and supervised the killing of 1,351 Muslims including the death of 1,130 members of Shiite Muslim sect while killings by rival Muslim armed fundamentalists such as Boko Haram Islamic insurgents and Islamic Zamfara Bandits resulted in mostly collateral death of 3,020 Muslims in the past three years.

By our latest findings from local sources in Adamawa and Taraba States, no fewer than 100 Christians lost their lives to Jihadist Brigades under the colour of Fulani Herdsmen in the two States. Coordinated attacks including killing of Christian children, women and men and burning of their houses were launched on Sunday night, 8th July, which lasted till early morning of Monday, 9th July 2018; with death of no fewer than 100. The killings and burning of houses went on with no security forces in sight, until after same when they arrived and reportedly cordoned off the attack scenes and their surroundings; making it difficult for victims’ communities and independent others including media to assess casualties and statistically report same.

The Daily Sun Newspaper of today, 11th July 2018 has also reported the massacre, saying “over 50 (rural Christians) people were reportedly killed in another bloody attack by Fulani Herdsmen in several communities bordering Adamawa and Taraba states on Monday night”; that “residents told Daily Sun that some Fulani militia attacked several ethnic villages of Gojefa, Bujum Yashi, Bujum Waya, Sabonlayi and Bujum Kasuwa in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State and Anguwan Bishop Yotti, Todung, Budon, Bunzum and Bamga Dutse in Taraba State”. http://sunnewsonline.com/bloodbath-taraba-adamawa/ .

250 Massacred in one night in June

But independent sources contacted from the scenes of the massacre told Intersociety that the total death toll was between 100 and 150 or even more and that the massacre was equivalent to Plateau anti Christian massacre of 23rd and 24th June 2018 in which no fewer than 250 Christians were killed with 238 bodies recovered and buried in mass graves. A lead-source who is an official of CAN and a Pentecostal reverend in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State, told Intersociety that there has been sustained conspiracy between Adamawa State Government and Federal Government, leading to most of the killings in the State not being allowed to be reported or documented.

He cited the case of anti Christian killings and burning of houses and churches that took place early last week between Monday, 2nd July and Wednesday 4th July 2018 in Bare Village located in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State where 13 Christians were killed and another six Christians killed in a midnight raid in Maraba Kola Village, Guyuk Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The killings were carried out by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen.

The Pentecostal Reverend also informed Intersociety that Christians are killed almost every day in old Middle including his own State of Adamawa but such killings in his State are hardly reported or documented owing to State Government-security forces-Federal Government conspiracy and censorship. He further informed that the situation has been compounded by the fact that not all areas of the State are connected to telephone or internet networks owing to destruction of same by Boko Haram insurgency and counter insurgency operations. Since November 2017, according to him, when Fulani Jihadist violent attacks increased in the State, both State and Federal Government have virtually abandoned the victims and their communities including non- provision of emergency aides and setting up of camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair
Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law

Adamawa State, Nigeria

Christian Genocide in Nigeria - 20 Parishioners, 2 Clergy Murdered

Fulani Tribesmen massacre Catholic Church 

Nigerian President Buhari is a Fulani and appears to support them

Of course, you will find no mention of this on Mainstream media

by Raymond Ibrahim 

Two days ago in Nigeria, on April 24, around 30 Muslim herdsmen stormed a church during early morning mass and massacred nearly 20 parishioners and two clergymen.

Rev. Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha were slaughtered while officiating at the altar of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Mbalom village, Benue. 

Worshippers were gathered in the church for the daily 5:30 a.m. service when they heard gunshots. “People started scampering and wailing,” said Terhemen Angor, a local resident. Several people were “gunned down in cold blood while many sustained injuries including bullet wounds… After attacking the church, the invaders descended on the community and razed over 60 houses. The community is on fire and deserted, people are fleeing to neighbouring villages hoping to find a safe haven for their families.”

As in similar occurrences, “concerted efforts to get [a] reaction from the Benue Police Command failed,” according to Vanguard News. As far back as January 3, and further indicative of the authorities’ indifference, one of the slain reverends, Fr. Gor had written on Facebook, “Living in fear. The fulani herdsmen are still around us in Mbalom. They refuse to go. They still go grazing around us. No weapons to depend on ourselves.”

“In their classic style they burn down homes, destroy food items and kill,” a statement concerning this latest atrocity from the local Catholic diocese read. “The police seem to know nothing of the attacks which have been going on in other villages within Benue State.”

The statement suggests that Fulani herdsmen attacks are part of the anti-Christian jihad in Nigeria that is more commonly associated with the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram:

Many people are asking why the International community has remained silent over the massacre of Benue citizens? The answer is simple: It has been the goal of the jihadists to conquer Benue and Tiv people who resisted their advance into the middle belt since 1804; the [Christian] people who rejected Islam and fought for the unification of Nigeria in the civil war of 1967 – 1970… [T]he Muslim North is enjoying a sweet revenge overshadowed by an insensitive regime…. The diocese has been active in providing relief materials including education and skills acquisition lessons. To go for the priests means total destruction of everything we stand for and believe in!

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari

The frequency and deadliness of Muslim herdsmen raids on Christian farmers is “now more deadly than the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency that has ravaged Nigeria’s northeast,” reports Agence France-Presse.

“I have just returned from Nigeria where over 100 Christians were killed in the 2 weeks I was there. The killings are now weekly and this isn’t even Boko Haram!” a leading human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe, whose hometown is the site of this latest massacre of Nigerian Christians and their priests, told Gatestone.

The Fulani Herdsmen are jihadists who invaded the region in 1804 and imposed a puritanical form of Islam. It is impossible to separate their antecedents from their present. More than just a land dispute, the attacks on an American mission compound last month and today’s attack on a church service are indicators of the Islamist extremism driving this genocide.

Boko Haram and the Fulani “are not only allies but have collaborated on attacks in Nigeria,” continued Ogebe. “It is no coincidence that both are now waging jihad on Nigeria given their long history.”

Many Christians in Nigeria accuse its president, Muhammadu Buhari of being complicit. Although he publicly condemns the ongoing massacre by Fulani herdsmen of Christians, they contend that he does nothing to stop them. Ogebe goes further with his accusations:

Buhari, who is himself from the jihadists’ Fulani tribe, has filled his security council with his kinsmen. He infamously refused to visit Benue State after the New Year’s Day Massacre that claimed over 70 lives then commanded the state governor to go and “accommodate” the Fulani Herdsmen who had killed his people. The minister of defense has justified the killings and General Buhari’s Government condones and sometimes outrightly supports the Herdsmen. Worse still, General Buhari is a life patron of one of the Herdsmen associations that has claimed some of the attacks.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is set to visit the White House next week, April 30.

Asked if he could relay a message to the White House, Ogebe said:

General Buhari is presiding over a low-grade genocide perpetrated by his Fulani Herdsmen tribe. He must be told to fish out the murderers of Rev Fathers Joseph and Felix and bring them to justice. The killings must stop. US should halt aircraft sales to Nigeria until these attacks are halted and the perpetrators convicted.

Mbalom Village, Benue State, Nigeria