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Christian villages in Nigeria reeling after Christmas attacks leave nearly 200 dead

This image made from an AFPTV video taken in the Nigerian village of Maiyanga on Dec. 27, 2023, shows families burying in a mass grave their relatives killed in deadly attacks conducted by armed groups in central Plateau State. The death toll from a series of attacks on villages in central Nigeria has climbed to almost 200, local authorities said. (Image: Kim Masara/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 27, 2023 / 18:41 pm (CNA).

Catholic and Nigerian leaders are demanding government action as Christian villages in the central Nigerian state of Plateau are reeling from a series of Christmas weekend attacks that left nearly 200 Christian Nigerians dead.

Photos obtained by CNA show victims of the attacks being buried in mass graves, underscoring the scale of the bloodshed.

“This indeed has been a gory Christmas for us,” Plateau governor Caleb Mutfwang said in a Tuesday statement that noted the attacks were “well-coordinated” and carried out using “heavy weapons.”

Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese in northern Nigeria meanwhile called on the newly elected Nigerian president Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to protect the Nigerian people, telling him: “You have no excuses before God or the people of Nigeria” and that “neither God nor history will forgive you if you fail.”

The bishop’s address, which was published by the Nigeria Catholic Network, also emphasized that “Nigerians have almost lost hope” that “a government can really and truly care for them” and that “our politicians will put our interests first and find a way to deal with the cancer of corruption.”

According to accounts by several local news sources and human rights activists, 198 Christians were killed in a series of terror attacks in 26 Christian communities in Plateau. The attacks began the night of Dec. 23 and continued through Christmas Day.

A burned vehicle in Maiyanga Village in Plateau State, Nigeria, after a December 2023 attack. Credit: Courtesy of Voice for the Voiceless and Peace Solidarity Network
A burned vehicle in Maiyanga Village in Plateau State, Nigeria, after a December 2023 attack. Credit: Courtesy of Voice for the Voiceless and Peace Solidarity Network

Maria Lozano, a representative for the papal relief group Aid to the Church in Need, told CNA that the Christmas attacks made the weekend “one of the most violent [times] in the area’s history.” She said she believes that a radicalized Islamic tribe known as the Fulani is responsible for the latest violence.

The attack also marks another instance of terrorists targeting Christian Nigerians on significant Christian feast days such as in the 2022 Pentecost massacre that killed 50 Christian villagers. Lozano said the attacks were carried out because of a combination of reasons including ethnic and religious strife between the Christian farmers and nomadic Fulani herdsmen.

She pointed out that the timing of the attacks had “religious undertones.”

Lozano also emphasized that a “lack of response from the government” over the years has worsened the situation in the region and that tangible government support has been largely absent after the Christmas massacre. The absence of government support, Lozano said, has forced Christian churches to take on the “primary responsibility of providing assistance.”

Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu, meanwhile, ordered an “immediate mobilization of relief sources” and directed the country’s security agencies to “scour every part of the zone” and “apprehend the culprits responsible for these atrocities.”

Mutfwang, the Plateau governor, called on the country’s security agencies to also identify those who have been “the sponsors of these attacks” so that the government can act to “unravel all those responsible.”

“Until we cut off the supply in terms of sponsorship, we may never be able to see the end of this,” Mutfwang said.

Nelson, who closely follows developments in Nigeria for ADF, joined in the demand for the Nigerian government to take immediate action, saying that it must do more than just voice support for the victims.

“The scale of this attack is shocking,” Nelson said. “If no real actions are taken after these attacks this Christmas, it can only be deliberate indifference to the lives of these Christian communities.”

Nelson said that the Fulani have been “launching attacks on Plateau and Middle Belt communities for years” but that their attacks have significantly increased this past year.

“It is indescribable the grief that these Christian communities have gone through this past year. The president of Nigeria has directed law enforcement to find and prosecute the attackers, but we have heard similar statements before, with little action taken afterward,” he said. “This time must be different.”


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2 Comments

  1. Islam teaches that anyone who is not a moslem is not human. In their worldview, it is perfectly acceptable to attack and slaughter the weak, defenseless and innocent, as long as they are not moslem. Telling a lie to an infidel is acceptable. In Islamic countries, if a car accident occurs between a moslem and a non-moslem, sharia law dictates that the non-moslem is always at fault.
    Since the Olympics in Munich, when islamic terrorists kidnapped and murdered the Israeli team, which was the first live worldwide broadcast of islamic terrorism, terrorists have continued along the same successful program of;
    1) choose a vulnerable, undefended target with a high number of innocent, defenseless people (e.g., the World Trade Center),
    2) strategize an attack scheme that will create the most spectacular level of destruction achievable, along with intense panic, fear and feelings of utter and complete helplessness on the part of the victims and the general public, and,
    3) disappear into thin air, never taking credit or bring attention to your organization.
    As such islam is a religion of cowards. Notice how no islamic leader ever leads an attack? We never see the Osama bin ladens, the ayatollahs, the Hamas leaders heading up these attacks. No! Instead, these so-called leaders cower in hideouts or overseas in some expensive hotel while they send their Children out to strap bombs to themselves, pilot the planes that crash into buildings, or otherwise demonstrate their willingness to be martyrs for islam. They dig tunnels then pat themselves on the back for living like rats in the darkness.
    They follow the devl in every way – by lying, fomenting strife and division, tearing down, slaughtering and destroying.
    Islamic leaders are the first and best proof, by their very actions and obvious lack thereof, that islam is a false religion.
    Mohammed was a fool for rejecting Christ, and his followers are paying the price.

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