While Christians around the world celebrated Jesus’ incarnation, terrorists in Nigeria renewed their periodic slaughter of Christians by the hundreds. The coordinated attacks on 26 villages in Plateau State began on December 23 but continued into Christmas Eve, and Christians were burying their dead by Christmas Day.
“We condemn these acts of violence in the strongest possible terms,” said Archbishop Daniel Okoh, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria. “The burning down of houses, and worship centers, and the destruction of properties worth millions of naira is not only a criminal act but also a direct assault on our shared values of peace, unity, and mutual respect.”
Alfred Mashat, a resident of the Bokkos area, said hundreds of houses were destroyed.
“About 160 Christians in these villages were killed by the terrorists,” Mashat said in a text message to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “We believe they are carrying out these attacks alongside armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen.”
Most of the Christians killed were women, children, and the elderly who were unable to escape, said Dawzino Mallau, another resident of the Bokkos area.
“This is unacceptable,” Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang said on Christmas Day. “Enough is enough. These stupid, senseless, and unprovoked acts must stop.” He vowed to “strengthen security agencies in the efforts in tackling insecurity in the state.”
Some reports speculated that the Christmas attacks were retaliation for the deaths of 100 Muslims when the government bombed their village, in a mistaken effort at killing terrorists. Others have blamed drought and dwindling land.
Christianity Today reported that Gideon Para-Mallam, chairman of the Para-Mallam Peace Foundation, is exasperated with such explanations.
“A terrible genocide is taking place in Plateau State, but it is being window-dressed to look like a clash between farmers and herders,” he said. “Sadly, false and misleading narratives are created while rivers of blood continue to flow.”
Emeka Umeagbalasi, board chairman of the Catholic-inspired NGO Intersociety, told Crux he wasn’t surprised at the attacks, and he suggested the government is not doing enough to prevent them.
“We are not surprised at what happened in Plateau State yesterday,” he said on December 24.
“We have bloodsuckers all over the place, and as I have said it before, the Nigerian security forces are biased, crudely biased. They are pro-Islamist security forces.
“If Nigerian security forces were up and running, some of this nonsense would have been stopped. But our security forces are crudely biased and partisan,” Emeka told Crux.
