For Immediate Release (Westlake Village, CA) —Attacks by suspected Fulani militants on Christian communities in north-central Nigeria claimed the lives of over 50 villagers since the end of December. The dead include 33 killed in attacks on Christmas Day.
The worst fears of Middle Belt Christians were realized when Muslim Fulani militants invaded several Christian communities over the holidays, killing residents and setting buildings alight. The United States excluded Nigeria from its special watch list of countries deemed of particular concern on religious freedom grounds. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) has campaigned to have Nigeria reinstated on the list for the past three years.
Attackers struck Plateau State, targeting the village of Gidan Ado on the evening of Sunday, December 22. Opening fire on residents, the gunmen killed 15, including a pregnant woman, a baby and a 13-year-old child, according to news reports which provided a list of victims and their ages. People were killed in their homes or as they attempted to flee, according to an eyewitness.
A survivor told the Nigerian Tribune that the language spoken by the attackers identified them as Fulani.
The fatal attack occurred despite the Plateau State authorities having ramped up security ahead of the holiday, the newspaper reported. This was to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that occurred on Christmas Eve 2023 when more than 200 were killed in Fulani militant attacks. However, the extra security measures were only set to come into force on December 23. A local leader, Clement Chup, said that the attack called into question the federal security agencies’ “commitment” to “securing lives and property of Nigerians.” In a press statement quoted by Morning Star News, he noted that Gidan Ado is “just a stone’s throw from a military checkpoint.”
The village of Gidan Ado is situated in Riyom local government area, a largely agricultural area of Plateau State that has repeatedly come under attack by militant Fulani herdsmen seeking to displace local Christian populations and seize the land.
The militants are said to have shot indiscriminately at worshipers during a church service, and to have set houses and barns alight. Sahara Reporters said seven children had been abducted and were among the missing.
In a statement, the Benue State governor, Rev. Hyacinth Alia, referred to the attacks as a “heinous” assault on unarmed, innocent citizens. And he pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice. Meanwhile, fresh violence has been reported in western Plateau State in the first week of the new year.
For over six years, militias drawn from the Muslim-majority Fulani ethnic group have been attacking Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt – a fertile region stretching across central Nigeria from west to east, populated by hundreds of indigenous, majority-Christian ethnic groups. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the attacks, and millions displaced.
About Christian Solidarity International:
Founded over 40 years ago, CSI is an international Christian human rights organization, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimized children and victims of catastrophe. CSI delivers emergency food assistance, medical treatment, and other lifesaving aid to victims of religious persecution and natural disasters in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Nigeria, South Sudan, Pakistan, and other hotspots around the globe. CSI is currently the only organization working to liberate Christians and other South Sudanese forced into slavery by government-backed forces during the Sudanese civil war. For more information visit https://csi-usa.org.
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