CV NEWS FEED // Islamist Fulani terrorists in Nigeria continue to kidnap, attack, and kill Christians, according to a recent report from Truth Nigeria.
Nine of Dio Awenmi Maisamari’s family members are currently being held hostage by the terrorists, Maisamari told Truth Nigeria, adding, “and I have no hint on how to raise money for ransom for the other ones, and I have no idea where my children are.” Maisamari is a Catholic and former leader of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union.
In early September, six of Maisamari’s family members were kidnapped, and the terrorists reportedly called for a ransom of N20 million Naira, equivalent to $13,000. Shortly after, three more of his family members were kidnapped.
As of September 29, the day of Maisamari’s interview with Truth Nigeria, his family members were still being held hostage by Fulani terrorists.
According to Truth Nigeria, “The majority-Muslim tribe known as Fulani numbers 9 million in Nigeria and is known for cattle herding and radical Islamist enthusiasm.”
Truth Nigeria reports that these kidnappings and ransoms are “a common ordeal for the Adara tribe,” the majority of whom are Christians who reside in counties such as Kajuru and Kachia.
Rosemary Dalhatu John, a 37-year-old mother of six from Kaduna, Nigeria, told Truth Nigeria that Fulani herdsmen “restrict farm access, demanding half our crops as ‘tax.’ Their cattle freely graze on our lands. If we complain, we risk kidnapping or death, and it’s useless reporting to the military, because they won’t come.”
In March, Fulani terrorists kidnapped 61 farmers who live about 35 miles outside of Kaduna.
As CatholicVote previously reported, some media outlets have attributed this conflict in Nigeria to climate change that has shrunk the available land.
However in February, Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the diocese of Makurdi, in Benue State of Nigeria, disputed this climate-change claim.
“That [claim] is not true,” Bishop Anagbe told CatholicVote in an interview at the time, “because by all standards, climate change is not purely a Nigeria [problem]. It is a global issue. So I don’t know why, if climate change is happening also in Europe and America, I don’t know how many people in the U.S. are killed to solve climate issues.”
He urged that people need to “understand the real truth of the matter,” not “propaganda” that focuses the conflict on climate change.
“This is clearly a jihad,” the bishop said, also stating that “by extension, it is a genocide trying to wipe out indigenous communities, indigenous tribes, to enthrone Islam.”
According to Truth Nigeria, in September in Kajuru county, Fulani terrorists reportedly attacked three churches while people had gathered inside to worship. The terrorists reportedly attacked at one Catholic church, just as Mass was beginning, killing one man and kidnapping others.
The weekend before, a group of Fulani terrorists had reportedly attacked a Catholic church, stealing jewelry, motorcycles, and other belongings from parishioners but leaving everyone unharmed. This attack occurred at the same time that a separate group was attacking an Evangelical church, where they killed two people and kidnapped several, including the pastor.
A total of 30 Christians were kidnapped in Kajuru county in September, according to Truth Nigeria.
A representative of Kajuru County and a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly Danlami Usman Stingo told Truth Nigeria that military forces have refused to aid local volunteers in going after the terrorists.
“The most painful part of this evil is that we know the camps of these bandits. In fact, even the military and other security forces know their location,” Stingo told Truth Nigeria, adding: “We have begged them to come, and we will lead. We just want them to give us cover, but they have refused.”
As CatholicVote reported in August, a religious freedom activist in Nigeria told Truth Nigeria that the Christian community in Ayati in the Benue State have been unable to produce necessary food due to the Fulani herdsmen attacks against the community.
Although the activist said the Benue State government is working to stop the attacks, Truth Nigeria reported at the time that “for now, the Christian people of Ayati are left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Children who once played in the streets now roam the desolate landscapes as refugees away from their lands, their eyes sunken with hunger.”
In 2023, Muslim terrorists, potentially linked to the Fulani tribe, attacked Christian homes, killing nearly 200, on Christmas Eve and December 23, in Central Plateau State in Nigeria. In August, Fulani terrorists kidnapped 20 Catholic medical students in the Benue State. The kidnappers demanded ransoms and threatened violence if the demands were not met.
Bishop Anagbe told CatholicVote in February that Christians in the West can support Nigeria “first and foremost [by praying] for God’s intervention in our country….”
Also in February, Bishop Anagbe spoke before US congressmen in Washington, D.C., urging for the U.S. to take action in light of the human rights abuses occurring in Nigeria.
The same week as Bishop Anagbe’s D.C. visit, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed legislation urging the Secretary of State to designate Nigeria a “country of particular concern” (CPC) regarding the religious freedom situation in the country.
According to Catholic News Agency, in June the Biden State Department released the 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom, but in the report, Nigeria is not designated a CPC.
