“Enough is enough”: Nigerian Christian Leader Denounces Arson, Killings by “the military”

“They set the curfew. The curfew is only restricted to only people within Mangu – within the Christian domain. Within the Muslim domain, they are free to move and do whatever they want to do,” Rev. Daluk said.

He added, “And not only that, the military has killed three of our young men. One is from my church. They killed one yesterday, and I reported to the security, and he said it was fake soldiers.”

The Church leader narrated how he had reported the killing to security officers, providing evidence that the military were behind the attack, only for his report to be dismissed as “fake news”.

The “soldier” who killed the Christisn is said to have been “signaled” to leave the murder scene as Rev. Daluk watched.

The CAN Chairman in Plateau State further lamented that many others people in authority he had called to report the Christian killings had ignored his calls, saying, “All of them have switched off their phones. They allowed the place to be burned down and be raided by the people.”

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The Christian leader stated that residents of Mangu do not want the presence of the Nigerian forces in the embattled region, saying, “We don’t want the military in Mangu Local Government. They should pack their loads and go. We don’t want them…They have been paid a price to carry out their duty.”

In his appeal for intervention of the international community in the killings in Mangu, Rev. Daluk said, “I am calling on the world to understand that this thing should stop, and people should come to our rescue to save us. If not, that is an evil plan for them to destroy Mangu Local Government. Because the governor is from here, and we are not going to allow it.”

He added, “The military should keep on killing us. We accept they should kill us, but we are not going to stop.”

Rev. Daluk said that Christians in Mangu are now ready to fight.

He expressed plans to “organize the whole Christians in Mangu Local Government Area,” saying, “We are going to fight. We are not going to stop.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said it would request to meet with Rev. Daluk over his comments.

Speaking to journalists on January 25, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba said, “DHQ is in the process of reaching out to him to come and substantiate the claims.”

“It is not unusual for emotions to cloud people’s judgment when they have been confronted with a very traumatizing experience,” Gen. Buba said.

He continued, “We will get to the bottom of his allegations after we have an audience with him. All the same, the military will continue to discharge its duties professionally and in line with the best international standards.”

Nigerian military has been accused of turning a blind eye to attacks against non-Muslims in Nigeria.

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Recently, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) carried out an investigation that revealed that security forces in the West African country have a secret “cow humanization” code where they speedily activate rapid responses against attackers of cows owned by Muslim jihadists who are invading Christian farms, and drag their feet when the same Christians are killed by Boko Haram militants, the Fulani herdsmen and other criminal gangs operating in the country.

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.