News

Nigeria: Fulani Kill Four Christians, Abduct Seven Others

November 13, 2020

The persecution of Christians in Nigeria has grown so brazen and virulent as to be a near-daily occurrence. Yet as attack follows attack, it becomes ever more clear that the Nigerian government will take no significant action. Christians in Nigeria have been brutalized and killed with impunity for years now, with little or no significant response from the Nigerian government or military that appears to sympathize with the attackers.

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. Those Christians are 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.

“Fulani Kill Four Christians, Abduct Others in North-Central Nigeria,” Morning Star News, November 12, 2020:

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Armed Fulani killed four Christians in north-central Nigeria on Friday (Nov. 6) and the next day kidnapped seven persons, including five daughters of a church pastor, according to a local advocacy group.

Surviving witnesses in Kaduna state’s Dande village, part of Kasaya in Chikun County, described the killers as armed Fulani who ambushed and killed John Musa, 45, father of nine children; Habila Ibrahim, 42, father of nine children; Samaila Audu, father of seven children; and Maikudi Wasa, 25, according to Luka Binniyat of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU).

The assailants also wounded 27-year-old David Umaru, he said.

On Saturday (Nov. 7), armed Fulani attacked Karji, a suburb of the city of Kaduna, Binniyat said.

“With brazen impunity, armed Fulani herdsmen kidnapped seven persons, five of them the daughters of pastor Istifanus Tiswan of Christ Embassy Church,” he said, identifying the daughters as Faith Tiswan, Godsgift Tiswan, Ruth Tiswan, Damaris Tiswan and Michelle Tiswan.

Also abducted was Haruna Barde, who had fled violence in his native village to take refuge in Karji, and another unidentified person, he said.

“To date, the kidnappers have yet to make contact,” Binniyat said, adding that the state government has failed to mobilize military or police personnel to bring rampant abductions to an end. “Kidnapping of Christians is occurring almost on daily basis, and this has become a source of severe worry for Christian residents living on the fringes of Buyaya, Maraban Rido, Gonin Gora, Karji and Unguwan Juji, all suburbs of Kaduna that fall under Chikun LGA.”

Binniyat said Christians have had to abandon their homes and flee for their lives after the destruction of their houses and the capture of their relatives by Fulani militia in the past year. Fulani herdsmen have taken over at least 45 Chikun County villages that were once predominantly Christian, he said.

Niger State Attacks

In northwest Nigeria’s Niger state, Fulani herdsmen killed one Christian and abducted nine others on Tuesday (Nov. 10), according to an area Christian leader.

In a series of coordinated attacks on ethnic Gbagyi, the Fulani killed the unidentified Christian in Alei village and abducted the other nine from Nasapa village, said Godspecial Moses, director with Glorious Missions.

“Many of the villages have been sacked with the Christians in the area moving to Zumba town, the headquarters of Shiroro Local Government Area, and in Gwada town,” Moses said. “Many of the affected Christians slept in the open along the roads and in any available open space. A few Christians are still left in Nauna but slept in the bush since the attacks began.”….

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, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a recent report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] 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 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….