Nigeria: Christians Killed in Ambushes in Two North-Central States

Christian persecution in Nigeria: once again we see Muslim Fulani herdsmen terrorizing and killing Christians in Nigeria with impunity. As always, there is little or no significant response from the Nigerian government or military. The herdsmen have made the situation of Christians in Nigeria a human rights catastrophe of immense proportions.

Accordingly, the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, once again urgently implores the United Nations and the governments of all nations that are committed to human rights and religious freedom to make the plight of Nigeria’s Christians a top priority. As Pascha approaches, we see the Christians of that land walking the way of the Cross. May our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ also bless them with the joy of a resurrection and new flourishing of their communities.

For previous coverage of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria from ChristianPersecution.com, see here.

“Christians Killed in Ambushes in Two North-Central States in Nigeria,” Morning Star News, April 14, 2020:

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria decapitated two Christians in Benue state on Monday (April 13), and another group of herdsmen in Plateau state on Saturday (April 11) shot a Christian farmer dead, sources said.

In Benue state, residents of Ologba village, Agatu County told Morning Star News that herdsmen ambushed two members of a Catholic church in the village at about 8 a.m. on Monday.

“Oche Alaade and his friend who had visited the village were traveling out of the village on their way back to Obagaji town where they reside when they were ambushed by the Fulani herdsmen and their heads cut off,” area resident Louis Oguche told Morning Star News in a text message.

Oyaje Sule, uncle of Oche Alaade, confirmed the killings in a statement issued to local press on Monday evening.

“My nephew, Oche Alaade, and his friend had come to the village for a visit and were returning to Obagaji town today in the morning where they reside, when they were ambushed by armed Fulani herdsmen, who killed them by cutting off their heads,” Sule said. “And because of the nature of their death, the two of them have been buried without their heads.”

The murders follow a herdsmen attack on two Christians the previous week who are receiving hospital treatment for their wounds, Sule said.

Agatu, a predominantly Christian area in the north-central state of Benue, has been under siege by herdsmen in the past four years, with many Christians killed and displaced.

In Plateau state, Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed 30-year-old Christian farmer Mabur Mallo Gwang on Saturday (April 11) in Maiduna village, Daffo District of Bokkos County, area residents said.

Four armed herdsmen attacked him at his house while he was resting that evening, they said.

“Mabur Mallo Gwang was attacked in his house at about 8 p.m. and was shot dead by the Fulani herdsmen,” John Machief told Morning Star News by text message from Bokkos town, where he had fled. “The herdsmen were armed with guns and machetes. They forced their way into the victim’s house by shooting and breaking doors into his house.”

Hearing the sounds of gunshot as they broke into his house, Machief and other neighbors fled into the nearby bushes, he said.

“As the herdsmen were retreating after the attack, we heard them communicating in Fulfulde, which is the Fulani language,” Machief said.

He said Gwang was a member of the local Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) congregation….