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Nigeria: Four Christians Killed in Benue State

For information about Orthodox Christianity in Nigeria, see here.

“Four Christians Killed in Benue State, Central Nigeria,” Morning Star News, October 11, 2024:
ABUJANigeria (Christian Daily InternationalMorning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen killed two Christians in central Nigeria’s Benue state on Wednesday (Oct. 9) and two others in another part of the state on Oct. 3, local sources said.

In northeastern Benue state’s Logo County, herdsmen on Wednesday attacked the village of Ayilamo, killing university student Solomon Kwanta and another Christian, area residents said.

“Apart from the two Christians killed during the attack, many other Christians were injured,” said Benard Chia in a message to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Armed Fulani herdsmen attacked Ayilamo community in Logo Local Government Area of Benue state at about midnight on Wednesday.”

Kwanta was a final-year student at the University of Calabar who was back in the village on break, Chia said….

Tyongi Emmanuel, another village resident, said the situation was dire. “Everyone here is on the run, as we have all been displaced,” he said, while villager Tsavsar Msughaondo told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, “Fulani herdsmen have taken over our ancestral lands; we are therefore calling on the Nigerian government to quickly intervene here in the Ayilamo area of Benue state in order to end these unprovoked attacks on us.”

In Kwande County in the southeastern part of the state, herdsmen on Oct. 3 killed two Christians in Tse Wende, villagers said.

Fabian Terseer identified the slain Christians as Terwse Azege and Orseer Kende.

“Attacks by armed Fulani herders have become a common occurrence here,” Terseer said. “Unfortunately, media organizations have not given these incidents adequate coverage. The sad thing too is that the Nigerian government has not deemed it necessary to take steps towards ending these attacks on our communities. For how long are we expected to endure these killing epidemics?”

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report….

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