Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed 15 Christians, including an infant boy, in two separate attacks in two states Dec. 17.
In Taraba state in the northeast more than 100 Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded Sabon Gida Shagogo village in the Donga local government area in the early morning, area resident Ahijo Uhaa Gbasha said. Attacking at about 4 a.m. when military soldiers on routine patrol had just left the village, the assailants set fire to church buildings and houses as they killed 10 Christians, he said.
“We have buried those killed in the attack and the sad thing is that this is not the first time that such an attack was carried out on Christian communities here,” Gbasha said. “No one cares about us. Lives and properties are being wasted on daily basis and the government is not doing anything to stop the killing of our people.”
Clement Mkperaga, a Roman Catholic priest whose church building was destroyed in the assault, said he barely escaped with his life.
“The village has been destroyed, and all my parishioners have been displaced,” he said. “Ten of my parishioners were killed during the attack on our community. I have been forced to flee the village as both the church building and the parish house also have been destroyed.”
Taraba state police spokesman Joseph Kwaji confirmed the attack, adding that security agencies have stepped up efforts to curtail violence against unarmed citizens.
In Kaduna state on the same day five Christians were killed and 15 houses destroyed in an early morning attack on the predominantly Christian village of Angwan Dauda, about six miles from Fadan Karshi. This was apparently in retaliation for soldiers shooting a Muslim herdsman to death after he stabbed a soldier trying to arrest him for attacking a Christian farmer.
Among the victims were a 1-year-old boy and his mother, a Christian resident of the community said. The child’s father was killed in an ambush Dec. 15 by the same Muslim Fulani herdsmen, he said.
Mike Sanga, another Christian resident of Angwan Dauda, said Fulani herdsmen were working in concert with Islamists in attacks on Christian communities in the area.
“The Fulani herdsmen are always working together with Muslim terrorist gunmen,” he said. “Whenever they invade a Christian community they kill and burn houses at will and go unchallenged. That is precisely how they attacked our village.”
The attack comes after similar attacks by Fulani herdsmen in Fadan Karshi, Angwan Ganye, and Karshi Daji towns.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency reported that more than 1,500 Christians have died in similar attacks in the area this year.
While ethnic Fulanis have had longstanding property disputes with Christian farmers, church leaders say attacks on Christian communities by the herdsmen constitute a war “by Islam to eliminate Christianity” in Nigeria. (MSN)
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