3/30/2019 Nigeria (International Christian Concern)- Fulani militants have waged attacks on Christian villages in recent weeks, continuing the jihadist campaign it began in 2009. Fulani Islamic militants have killed more than 120 Christians and burned dozens of homes in northern Nigeria in a series of attacks since the election season in February. Their violent agenda was recently spurred by Kaduna Gov. Nasir El-Rufai’s false claim that Adara Christians murdered over 100 Fulani, on the eve of Nigeria’s presidential election.
His false statements encouraged Islamic militants and Fulani herdsmen to hammer Christian villages in the Kaduna, Benue and Borno state. The Nigerian Emergency Management Agency refuted his statement, proclaiming it as, “a rumor to instigate violence.”
Since the re-election of President Buhari, the actions of Fulani herdsmen as Jihadist militants have gone greatly unchecked. The Fulani continue to freely roam and kill Christians in the northern and middle belt regions of Nigeria, which have come at a near constant rate.
Fulani militants have waged coordinated attacks on Nigeria’s most persecuted states. On March 4th, the jihadist group killed 23 Christian villagers with guns and machetes, and slaughtered approximately 30 people days prior Kaduna state.
On March 11th, Islamic hardliners killed 52 Christians and burned at least 100 homes in villages in the Maro district of the Kajuru Local Government Area in Kaduna state. According to Christian Solidarity worldwide (CSW), witnesses reported the Fulani attacked in three groups — one setting fire to homes, another shooting villagers, and another designated to chase down those who tried to flee.
These brutal outbreaks have urged Christian leaders and advocacy groups to plead for President Trump’s intervention to calm the violence in Nigeria’s middle belt.
Father Peter John Wumbadi, leader of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Michika said, “I appeal to President Trump to be proactive in urging our country’s government to alleviate the Boko Haram problem. That means to listen to the masses, because the information from the government is not sincere.”
In addition to the surges in Fulani violence against Christians, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai’s has refused to release the Adara Christians people in Kaduna whom he had arrested after making his reportedly spurious claim about the murder of Fulani tribesman.
Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of U.N, publically condemned the Fulani’s attacks against Nigerian Christians, and urged for the release of the Adara elders and called for immediate government intervention.
“In the interests of justice and equity, we call for the restoration of the Adara Chiefdom, and urge the state and the federal governments to address this violence in a swift, decisive and unbiased manner, and to priorities rehabilitation and justice for traumatized survivors.” Thomas wrote.
“The relentless death and destruction is a sad indictment of the continuing failure by both levels of government to fulfill the primary mandate of protecting all its citizens impartially,” He added.
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