They come at night shouting and by sunrise they leave a trail of destruction with dead bodies of women, children and men whose only guilt is their Christian belief.
This is the harrowing experience of Fr Polycarp Lamma, a Catholic parish priest in the diocese of Jalingo, northeast of Nigeria, who has witnessed the ongoing persecution of Christians at the hands of Muslim herdsmen.
Fr Lamma was in Malta to raise awareness on these brutal killings, on the initiative of Aid to the Church in Need – a worldwide Pontifical Foundation focusing on assisting the Church in areas around the globe where Christians are oppressed and persecuted.
He recounts that the troubles started in 2014, when Fulani herdsmen, a semi-nomadic, pastoralist ethnic group living in the central regions of Nigeria, intensified their raids on farms belonging to Christians.
Though such clashes over grazing land in the region known as the Middle Belt go back centuries, it was only in recent years that tensions escalated.
Born in 1971, Fr Lamma was ordained priest in 2007 and eventually became a parish priest.
“We lived in peace till 2014, when Fulani herdsmen committed a serious attack in the village. They burned everything down, including 43 religious centres, including the parish hall,” he recounted.
They burned everything down, including 43 religious centres, including the parish hallHe insisted that the attack was religiously motivated.
“When they attack they shout Allah u Akbar, and start shooting, but not before alerting Muslim farmers about their intention,” he added.
In June last year, on June 5, which happened to be his birthday, Fr Lamma had a close shave with death. “They surround you and the only way to avoid death is to try and escape or hide. Fortunately, when they use guns, we hear them coming and have a greater chance to flee.”
“I hid under a heap of rubbish and spent four hours concealed, until about 4.30am when the attack was over,” he told Times of Malta.
These attacks were not isolated incidents. It is estimated that thousands have already perished.
“Most of them are shot dead, but when the bullets run out they turn to machetes and even axes,” he recounted…
News
Nigeria: “They just turn up at night and kill Christians”
April 13, 2019
Here is a harrowing firsthand account of the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria, which has claimed thousands of lives and threatens the very existence of Nigeria’s small but growing Orthodox Christian community. The suffering of the Christians in Nigeria cannot be overstated, and as Fr. Polycarp Lamma explains here, is clearly based upon their identity as Christians. Like the Christians in so many other areas of the world, the Christians of Nigeria are being called upon today to have the unshakeable faith, courage, and perseverance of the martyrs. Please beseech the Holy Martyrs to intercede for them.
“Watch: ‘They just turn up at night and kill Christians,'” by Keith Micallef, Times of Malta, April 13, 2019:
