Nigeria: Fulani jihadists slaughter 25 Christians in spate of attacks in Benue state

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) - The slaughter of Christians in Nigeria continues, as suspected Fulani jihadists murdered 25 Christians in Benue state over the last three weeks, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Rights groups have warned of a Christian genocide in Nigeria: Islamic terrorists murdered 43,000 between 2009-2012.

On Sunday, 18 September, Fulani jihadist herdsmen killed three people during a raid on the predominantly Christian village of Tse Ngban v in Guma County, MSN reports. “The Fulani herdsmen who attacked the Ngban community were more than two dozen, and they were all armed with guns,” area resident Michael Juhul told MSN. “They killed three members of our community.”

In the three weeks before Sunday's attack, 13 Christians were killed during raids by suspected Fulani herdsmen on the villages of Tse Numgbera, Umella, Yogobo, and Ukohol in Guma County, MSN said.

The chairman of the Guma Local Government Area, Mike Ubah, told MSN that four of the 13 Christians were killed on September 9-10 in Ukohol and Yogobo. “The herdsmen also destroyed houses belonging to these Christians by setting fire on them during the attacks, which lasted for two days, Friday and Saturday, the 9th and 10th of September,” Ubah reported. “A week earlier, nine Christians were killed in separate attacks in Guma Local Government Area (LGA) by these herdsmen,” he said. Moreover, Ubah told MSN, nine other Christians were killed in the first week of September in the county, three in Tse Numgbera village on September 3, and six in Umella village on September 1.

In a statement to MSN about the persistent attacks on Christian communities in Benue, Emmanuel Shior, executive secretary of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said: “Recent attacks by herders on some Christian communities in Benue state have left 6,000 Christians displaced in Logo, Guma, and Gwer West local government areas of the state. These continuous attacks by herdsmen on Christian communities in the state have also resulted in the destruction of facilities like churches, schools, markets, and health care establishments.”