EGN NEWS DESK
Fulani herdsmen killed six Christians on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 1-2) in Benue state, Nigeria after slaughtering 15 Christians in a close-by village two days prior, sources mentioned.
In Ayilomo, a predominantly Christian village in Logo County, Fulani herdsmen attacked at about 6 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 1), mentioned space resident Terwase Avande.
“Fulani herdsmen invaded the neighborhood and started taking pictures at Christian residents, killing six Christians,” Avande mentioned. “The members of the neighborhood are farmers. They had returned from their farms when the attackers invaded the neighborhood.”
Paul Adetsav, a neighborhood chief in Ayilomo, mentioned residents can now not are inclined to their farms due to the assaults.
“The Fulani herdsmen preserve attacking us virtually every day, killing Christians at will and igniting fireplace on our homes and locations of worship,” Adetsav informed Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Crops we planted on our farms too have been destroyed by the armed herdsmen. Hunger has grow to be an epidemic, killing us and our kids since now we have nothing to eat.”
More than 400,000 members of the neighborhood have been displaced on account of incessant assaults, Adetsav mentioned.
On Oct. 30 in Anyiin village, additionally in Logo County, herdsmen killed 15 Christians, mentioned space resident Joe Iormumbe. Johnson Kwar, one other village resident, mentioned the raid went from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Joseph Anawah, a neighborhood chief within the Ayiin space, recognized a number of the Christians killed as Orihundu Ati, Zaki Mbatern, Tordoo Suswam, Uyange Chembe and John Chembe.
Adegwa Uba, one other resident of the realm, pleaded for the Nigerian authorities to behave urgently to avoid wasting lives.
“We beg the world to listen to our determined cry – our communities in Gaambe-Tiev, Logo Local Government, are being systematically decimated by relentless Fulani militia assaults,” Uba informed Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The bloodshed is relentless, with 21 harmless lives misplaced in Anyiin simply final week. Our villages – Anyiin, Ayilamo, Uzer, Iorza, Mchia and Chembe have perpetual been brutally attacked by Fulani herdsmen, and youngsters, girls and aged are slaughtered like animals.”
Homes, livelihoods and full communities are underneath risk, he mentioned.
“Security forces acquire our bodies however fail to stop assaults or carry perpetrators to justice,” Uba mentioned. “The authorities’s inaction is appalling, its silence deafening. Our political leaders appear indifferent, leaving us to face this horror alone.”
He known as on the federal government to take fast motion to guard individuals, requested safety forces to prioritize prevention and prosecution and appealed to the worldwide neighborhood to intervene and lend help.
“We are dying, please hear our cry,” Uba mentioned.
Clement Ukav, chairman of the Logo Local Government Area Council, mentioned the federal government was doing every part attainable to cease the violence.
“We are unhappy that our individuals through the years have been attacked at varied instances by Fulani herdsmen, however I can guarantee that every part that’s essential to halt such assaults will likely be finished by the federal government,” Ukav mentioned.
Police spokesperson Catherine Anene informed Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that officers had obtained experiences of assaults within the Logo space, and that safety brokers had been deployed to the realm.
Nigeria remained the deadliest place on the earth to observe Christ, with 4,118 individuals killed for his or her religion from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, in response to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in every other nation additionally came about in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was additionally the third highest nation in variety of assaults on church buildings and different Christian buildings equivalent to hospitals, faculties, and cemeteries, with 750, in response to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the nations the place it’s most troublesome to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, because it was within the earlier 12 months.
Numbering within the thousands and thousands throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise a whole lot of clans of many various lineages who don’t maintain extremist views, however some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) famous in a 2020 report.
“They undertake a comparable technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and reveal a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian id,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have mentioned they imagine herdsmen assaults on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are impressed by their need to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it troublesome for them to maintain their herds.
Catholic, Anglican clergymen kidnapped
In southern Nigeria, a Catholic priest was kidnapped in Imo state on Tuesday (Nov. 5). This adopted the kidnapping of one other Catholic priest in Edo state on Oct. 27 – freed on Wednesday (Nov. 6) – and the kidnapping of an Anglican priest in Anambra state on Oct. 26.
The Rev. Emmanuel Azubuike, parish priest of St. Theresa’s Catholic Parish in Obollo city, Isiala Mbano County in Imo state, southeast Nigeria, was kidnapped on Tuesday (Nov. 5) by armed gunmen at about 6 p.m. as he was getting back from a pastoral go to to some villages.
Azubuike was ambushed and kidnapped alongside a freeway, in response to a press release by the Catholic Diocese of Okigwe.
“We solicit your fervent prayers that he might come to us secure and sound,” the Rev. Princewill Iwuanyanwu, chancellor and secretary of the Catholic Diocese of Okigwe, mentioned within the assertion.
In Edo state, southwest Nigeria, Catholic priest Thomas Oyode was kidnapped by gunmen at about 7 p.m. on Oct. 27 from the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary, Ivhianokpodi-Agenebode, Etsako East County, the place he was rector, in response to a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Auchi.
Oyode was launched on Wednesday (Nov. 6) close to Ajaokuta, Kogi state, in response to the Rev. Peter Egielewa, spokesman for the Diocese of Auchi. The kidnappers had demanded 200 million naira ($119,673 USD) in ransom, however phrases of his launch weren’t disclosed.
In Anambra state, southeast Nigeria, Anglican priest Ven David Arinze Ajaefobi was kidnapped by gunmen on Oct. 26, sources mentioned. Ajaefobi was kidnapped on the entrance of his St. James’ Anglican Church, Awkuzu, Oyi County, at about 9 p.m., space resident Chukwudi Nwankwor mentioned.
Tochukwu Ikenga, spokesman for Anambra State Police Command, mentioned officers have been investigating.
© Christian Daily International
