At Least 113 Christians Feared Dead In Nigeria Attacks (Worthy News In-Depth)

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News

ABUJA (Worthy News) – A new spate of attacks in Nigeria killed at least 113 people, many of them Christians, well-informed sources told Worthy News on Tuesday.

“More Christians have been killed, including in Jos,” the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State, said Paul Jongas, a Christian farmer and evangelist, who fled anti-Christian violence and now lives in Abuja.

He and his family fear that with Easter approaching, believers in Nigeria are even more vulnerable to attacks by Islamic groups.

The deadly attacks in Nigeria’s central Plateau State displaced thousands, Christians said.

Since the end of March, Fulani militant herdsmen “attacked at least eight communities in the local government [areas] of Bokkos and Bassa,” said advocacy group Open Doors. “Alongside those [113] killed (and the number could be higher), a further six are missing, and many others injured. Over 300 homes have been destroyed, leaving more than 3,000 people displaced.”

The most recent attack was on Palm Sunday night, April 13, in a Christian community in Bassa, Christians said. Some “43 people were killed, several houses were burnt down with people inside,” added a local Open Doors contact.

Amongst the other attacks, three Christian farmers were cultivating their land on March 24 when they were killed. Three days later, the militants killed 11 Christians who had gathered for a funeral, including a pregnant woman and a ten-year-old girl. On April 2, at least five Christian women were killed as they gathered for fellowship,” Open Doors explained.

SCORES MORE DEAD

Nigeria’s National Emergency Agency said gunmen had killed at least 50 people last week and displaced nearly 2,000 others in several days of attacks in Plateau.

The attacks come as Christian communities in the region still recover from a series of attacks in 2023 in the area, including one on Christmas Eve in which around 200 believers were killed.

In a statement, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu strongly condemned the violence in Plateau State, urging the state’s leadership to find “a lasting solution” to persistent “communal” conflicts.”

“We cannot allow this devastation and the tit-for-tat attacks to continue. Enough is enough,” Tinubu said in a statement signed Monday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

However, critics say Tinubu and his allies have to do more to protect the Christian community in states where extremists seek the Islamization of regions.

Christian advocacy group Open Doors recently reported that in 2024, some 3,100 Christians were killed and more than 2,000 kidnapped in Nigeria.

While security was reportedly stepped up in affected communities, “Our people are living in fear,” said Titus Ayuba Alams, a Christian serving as a special adviser to local authorities on workers’ welfare and corporate affairs. “Children no longer go to school, even worship in churches, you can’t do it, because you are running for your life.”

MILLIONS ARE DISPLACED

Open Doors says those displaced by the latest deadly violence join the “millions of Christians displaced by violence and conflict, not just in Nigeria but throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Many end up at displacement camps that are dangerously ill-equipped to care for people.”

“We feel ignored, forgotten. Like we are in the dark,” said Pastor Barnabas from Nigeria, who lives in a displacement camp after narrowly surviving a violent attack. “I will not lose my confidence in God. I will always encourage the Christians here,” he added in comments shared by Open Doors.

Open Doors said it is involved in the four-year “Arise Africa” campaign to raise global awareness of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and other African nations. “Violence against Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa is unprecedented – and it’s driving people from their homes. Open Doors estimates that 16.2 million Christians are displaced. Many are persecuted for their faith. The very survival of the church is at risk – unless we act.”

“Let’s pray that the Lord will make provision because we have four IDP [internally displaced person] camps: one in Bokkos, one in Gombe, and two in Hurti. And in Bokkos, we have more than 2,000 IDPs. In Hurti, we have more than 4,000, and the same is true in Gonde,” added Reverend Arum, the CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) chairman of Bokkos’ lower government authority. “Let’s pray that the Lord will make provision, and the body of Christ will support the church through prayers and, if they can, support them financially.”

The anti-Christian violence is linked mainly to two groups—the extremist Islamist militant Boko Haram and its splinter factions and a range of militias or “bandits” linked to Fulani herders, Muslims who have waged a campaign of land grabs against Christian farmers in the fertile and more Christian “Middle Belt” of central Nigeria.

The Fulanis’ grazing land has dried up over the past decades. However, Christians also say the attacks are more than an issue over land and are linked to their faith in Christ, which radical Muslims oppose.

Of Nigeria’s nearly 229 million people, Muslims comprise 53.5 percent, while 45.9 percent are Christians, according to official estimates. Nigeria ranks 7th on the annual World Watch List of 50 nations where Open Doors says Christians face the most persecution for their faith.

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