JOS, Nigeria, February 19, 2021
(Nobelie News) Muslim Fulani
herdsmen shot four Christians to death
on Sunday (Feb. 14) in north-central
Nigeria, following the killing of seven
other Christians earlier in the month.
Muslim Fulani herdsmen ambushed the
four members of the Evangelical
Church Winning All (ECWA) at about 8
p.m. in Kwall District, Bassa County of
Plateau state, three of them near Ri-
Bakwa village and one in Zirshe village,
according to David Mali, spokesman
for the Irigwe Development Association
(IDA). The IDA unites the
predominantly Christian, ethnic Irigwe
of Plateau state.
“Irigwe nation has again been thrown
into the state of grief, heart-brokenness
following the unwarranted killing of
four of our Christian men by the Fulani
herdsmen at two villages of Kwall
District, Bassa LGA of Plateau state,”
Mali said in a press statement. “Four
of them from Rikwe-Chongu village
were ambushed along Ri-Bakwa axis
near Kpachudu, and three were killed
instantly while one sustained gunshot
injury. The other one from Zirshe
(Ntireku) was ambushed and killed
instantly.”
Mali identified the slain Christians as
Ezekiel Maja, 29; Emmanuel Agaba,
39; Moses Daburu, 26; and Kefas
Bulus David, 31. Wounded was Bitrus
Ezra, 42.
The herdsmen burned several houses
and food grains worth millions of naira
in Zirshe village, he said.
“Irigwe nation is our land, and no
amount of evil force can compel us to
relinquish it to those who hate us and
our Christian faith,” Mali said. “We are
known for resilience, and so we shall
remain till the end of age.”
Such unprovoked violence must be
stopped, and the Christian Irigwe’s
decision to be a peace-loving people
who will not retaliate should not be
taken as an act of cowardice, Mali
said.
“In the same vein, we want to call with
a high tone on the authorities saddled
with the responsibility of protecting
lives and property to step up efforts in
ensuring that the needful is done in
terms of apprehending the culprits and
absolute justice served, so as to put an
end to all manners of destruction of
lives and property within Irigwe nation,”
he said.
The killings followed a Feb. 7 Fulani
herdsmen attack on Christians in the
villages of Kishosho and Zirshe in
southern Kaduna state’s Kauru County,
Mali said. Church elder Danlami
Sunday, 40, and four other Christians
were killed, he said. There are villages
called Zirshe in both Kaduna state and
Plateau state.
“This attack occurred around 7:30 p.m.
of Sunday, Feb. 7, where Fulani
Herdsmen in their numbers ambushed
and killed the harmless and innocuous
people of Kishosho and Zirshe
communities of Kauru LGA, Kaduna
state,” he said. “One sustained some
degrees of injury and has been
hospitalized. The five Christians were
killed at Kishosho and Zirshe villages.
The herdsmen also attacked Kigam
village and burned foods and grains.”
In Plateau state’s Miango area, in
Bassa County, Fulani herdsmen on
Feb. 2 ambushed and killed two
Christians on a road in Dudu village, he
said. Raphael Bawa, 39, was shot
dead, while Aga Mabo was shot in the
chest and later died at Enos hospital,
according to Mali.
“In recent times, Fulani herdsmen have
killed hundreds of our people, with
thousands displaced, houses razed
down and farmed crops destroyed,
leaving behind 200 orphans and
vulnerable children, as well as 50
women widowed,” he said.
SCHOOL ATTACK
In Niger state on Wednesday (Feb. 17),
gunmen attacked a boarding high
school for boys, killing a Christian
student and abducting 42 people,
sources said.
Benjamin Habila was killed in the
attack on the Government Science
College, Kagara town in Rafi County, an
area resident said.
“A Christian student, Benjamin Habila,
was shot dead by the bandits as he
tried to escape from them, while seven
other Christian students and staffs
were captured alongside other non-
Christian students, staff and their
family members,” Justina Aliyu told
Morning Star News by text message.
“They were taken away at gunpoint into
forests.”
The gunmen, dressed in military
camouflage, attacked between 1:30
a.m. and 2 a.m., reportedly gathering
students outside and chasing and
shooting those trying to escape,
including Muslims.
Niger Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello said
that 27 students, three staff members
and 12 relatives were abducted.
A spokesman for Nigerian President
Muhammadu Buhari said armed forces
and police had been directed to ensure
the immediate and safe return of those
abducted.
Aliyu, a Christian resident of Kagara,
said the assailants were Fulani who
broke into the school, shooting and
raiding the staff quarters and student
hostels. The statement from the
governor’s office identified some
among those kidnapped as Christians
Philip Dodo and his wife, Hannatu
Philip Dodo, Christiana Adama, Faith
Adama, Shem Joshua, Ezekeil Danladi,
Habakuk Augustine and Polonius
Vincent.
About 1,000 students were at the
school at the time of the attack.
COUNTRY WITH MOST
CHRISTIANS KILLED
Nigeria was the country with the most
Christians killed for their faith last year
(November 2019-October 2020), at
3,530, up from 1,350 in 2019,
according to Christian support
organization Open Doors’ 2021 World
Watch List. In overall violence, Nigeria
was second only to Pakistan, and it
trailed only China in the number of
churches attacked or closed, 270,
according to the list.
Nigeria led the world in number of
kidnapped Christians last year with
990, according to the WWL report. In
the 2021 World Watch List of the
countries where it is most difficult to
be a Christian, Nigeria broke into the
top 10 for the first time, jumping to No.
9 from No. 12 the previous year.
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 in Nigeria’s
Middle Belt 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.
The APPG report noted that tribal
loyalties cannot be overlooked.
“In 2015, Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani,
was elected president of Nigeria,” the
group reported. “He has done virtually
nothing to address the behavior of his
fellow tribesmen in the Middle Belt and
in the south of the country.”
The U.S. State Department on Dec. 7
added Nigeria to its list of Countries of
Particular Concern for engaging in or
tolerating “systematic, ongoing,
egregious violations of religious
freedom.” Nigeria joined Burma, China,
Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and
Turkmenistan on the list.
In a more recent category of non-state
actors, the State Department also
designated Islamic State West Africa
Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram, Al-
Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, Hayat Tahrir al-
Sham, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Greater
Sahara, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal
Muslimin, and the Taliban as “Entities
of Particular Concern.”
On Dec. 10 the prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court, Fatou
Bensouda, issued a statement calling
for investigation into crimes against
humanity in Nigeria.
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