Despite a government-imposed curfew in Plateau State this week, Fulani militants killed 15 Christians in the Bwai Village of Mangu in north central Nigeria.
County Chairman Markus Artu declared a curfew beginning Sunday due to ongoing violence. This was the second time in a month when Fulani extremists violated a curfew – more than 40 Christians were killed last month near Mangu.
“The Fulani continue killing daily,” one survivor told an International Christian Concern (ICC) staffer on Wednesday. “Another 15 people were killed last night two days after the curfew was declared in Bwai village.”
Christians in Mangu have suffered from recent Fulani militant violence. More than 16 communities were attacked in recent months, with dozens of Christians killed, farms destroyed, and houses burned.
An ICC staffer tried unsuccessfully to visit one of the attacked villages but was turned away – militants walked around with guns and grazed their cattle on Christian farms.
The attacks come after a slate of violence in the state of recently inaugurated governor Barr. Caleb Mutfwang. The Plateau State governor visited the Christian communities earlier in the month. Questions continue over the attacks that recently claimed dozens of lives and properties worth millions of naira in Mangu and Riyom.
Mutfwang wondered why the attacks were happening now, and who brought the attackers. He urged community leaders to expose those who were working to cause disaffection in Mangu which has a history of peaceful coexistence.
“I have asked God to strengthen my own heart,” said Mutfwang during his visit. “…This magnitude of madness and carnage has never happened in the Mangu Local Government Area. There have been isolated and sporadic incidents and you begin to ask why and why now. But we have come to encourage you as leaders of our people to know that God is on the throne.
“What has happened is a terrible setback and depressing; that these people that we have lost in a very callous manner with several others that their death will not be in vain. We should be encouraged that by the grace of God, help is on our way.”
Join ICC in praying for the persecuted Christians in Nigeria, and those suffering in Plateau State.
