Catholic Peace Entity’s Lesson from Increased Holy Week Attacks in Nigeria

At least 94 people were reported dead in a series of deadly attacks on Christian communities throughout Holy Week in Benue State in north-central Nigeria, in what was described as an ominous sign of escalating violence blamed on Muslim militias in the country’s Middle Belt region.

On April 2, armed men reportedly stormed a Palm Sunday service at a Pentecostal church in Akenawe-Tswarev in Logo county, Benue State, killing a young boy and kidnapping the pastor and other worshipers.

Three days later, on April 5, gunmen killed at least 50 people in the village of Umogidi, located in Utokpo county, a Catholic stronghold in western Benue, the Associated Press reported.

On the night of Good Friday, dozens were killed when Muslim gunmen raided an elementary school building in the village of Ngban that serves as a shelter for about 100 displaced Christian farmers and their families.

The April 7 attack left 43 people dead and more than 40 injured. 

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In the April 14 report, Mr. Viljoen notes that victims of Islamist attacks, both Christians and moderate Muslims, are targeted because they do not subscribe to the radical viewpoint of jihad as understood by them, thus making them targets.

“The government remains silent and not making these attacks a priority area will only embolden the insurgents, and make the situation even direr than it is currently,” the DHPI Director says.

The latest report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) indicates that since the 2009 Islamic uprising, 52,250 Christians and 34,000 moderate Muslims have been “butchered or hacked to death.”

Authors of the report describe “Buhari’s radical Islamism since 2015”, which they say has killed 30,250 Christians and attacked 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools.

They say that since 2009, 14 million Christians have been uprooted and forced to flee their homes and 800 Christian communities attacked.

Authors of the Intersociety report say that Christians of Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Niger, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and Kebbi were worst affected in the attacks, and that Christians living in Eastern Nigeria have been “worst hit in Nigerian military killings and property destructions on ethno-religious grounds.”

Warning of “a gathering storm” in Eastern and Southern Nigeria in a past interview with ACI Africa, Mr. Viljoen bemoaned the fact that the violence in Southern Nigeria was being reported as clashes with cattle herders, not as the occupation of land by armed militia.

Analysts have described the situation in the South of Nigeria as a concerted, well-coordinated occupation, saying that the ultimate goal is to occupy the South and establish a Caliphate, giving the Fulani access to land and mineral resources.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.