A Christian youth organisation has issued a plea to the country’s new president and the state governor to end the violence against Christians in Nigeria’s central Plateau State. It comes after Fulani militants overran four communities following Sunday worship on June 11.
The Plateau commissioner of police made an assessment visit to Jol following the attacks. ECCVN
Around 20 people were killed, and many others were injured when Fulani militants invaded four communities in Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas, supposedly in order to graze their cattle, the Berom Youth-Moulders Association (BYM) said in a video message.
BYM president Barrister Solomon Dalyop Mwantiri delivered the message addressed to President Bola Tinubu and Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwam. In it he referred to an “ongoing genocide” in parts of the state.
Mwantiri, who is CSI’s local partner in the area, said the villages – Rim, Jol, Kwi and Gana-Ropp – were overrun by militants who arrived on motorcycles and minibuses shortly after worshipers emerged from church services.
“At the moment we have a death toll of 19, many injured and more than 12,000 persons displaced,“ Mwantiri said.
According to Nigerian news reports, the dead included a pastor with the Church of Christ in Nations, Rev Nichodemus Kim.
“Our hearts are deeply pained over what the Fulani militias and other terrorist elements in the state are currently carrying out on innocent citizens,” Mwantiri said.
He added that Fulani invaders have occupied at least 102 villages in the state.
“It is very important to let you know that the situation in the state is not a farmer-herder clash; it is full-scale banditry and terrorism masterminded by Fulani militias,” Mwantiri told the president and governor.
Plateau State in Nigeria’s Middle Belt has been a hotspot of violence since the February 25 presidential elections, which were won by ruling APC party candidate Bola Tinubu, a Muslim.
In the second half of April, over 30 died in systematic attacks on Christian villages in Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Jos South and Bassa local government areas. And four consecutive days of attacks in Mangu from May 16 left over 120 villagers dead.
