Three Christians Killed By Fulani Militants, Injured Others After Church Service

Three Christians Killed By Fulani Militants, Injured Others After Church Service

Fulani militants on motorcycles attacked Adu Village in Kwall District of Plateau State, killing three Christians after an evening church service. Three more were injured, including an 11-year-old girl. The militants were dressed in black and Nigerian army uniforms and were holding AK-47 rifles, survivors confirmed to ICC.

An ICC staffer visited the village, located 45km from the state capital, and saw the bodies of the three deceased Christians. “These are the dead bodies,” an Adu local community leader confirmed to ICC, and mentioned that three more were injured. “Yes, three are seriously injured with bullet gunshots,” a nurse from Enos hospital confirmed to ICC, including an 11-year-old girl who survived two gunshot wounds.

The nurse said the hospital is lacking facilities and drugs to handle the challenges in the hospital and they want the government to help or an NGOs to assist with drugs. “Most of the locals can’t pay hospital bills,” the nurse told ICC. The nurse said the hospital treated over twenty gunshot survivors recently who were not able to pay medical bills .

Local from the Adu village said this is the fourth time their community was attacked by Fulani militants and nothing was done to arrest the perpetrators or increase security after any of the incidents. “Fulani [militants] are reducing our number daily to take over our land for grazing, but the government keeps silent,” a local leader in Adu told ICC.

Gata Moses from Kwall district wrote to ICC about the ongoing situation. “The enemies of our land,” he said, “understand how our numerical  strength can be used to our defense and are all busy carrying out heinous activities to reduce our strength by hunting and killing on us on a daily basis and intimidating us by displacing us through burning of our houses and properties and destroying our farms.”

Moses, a Christian rights activist who was once torture by Nigeria army for condemning persecution of Christians in his community, also said that “politics keep the government from making better policy, which even in the face of imminent crises has not played out in our communities. Our elected officials have not been seen using their offices of authority to address these anomalies.”