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CV NEWS FEED // A prominent religious freedom activist in Nigeria recently gave an interview to Truth Nigeria, detailing the devastating situation for Christians in the Benue State, where his own hometown of Ayati has been “reduced to ghost town” by Fulani herdsmen.
“The attacks have become a daily affair, and our people can no longer access their farms,” Theophilus Ahangba Ayati, Deputy Director at the Bureau for County and Chieftaincy Affairs in Benue State told Truth Nigeria, adding: “The Fulani jihadists have occupied our land, and we are no longer able to produce the crops that were once the lifeblood of our community.”
Ayati’s fourth-generation ancestors helped to found the Roman Catholic town in the Benue State, according to the report. The town is home to a farming community, which most commonly grows crops such as yams, cassava, groundnuts, rice, and maize.
Before the Fulani began waging attacks against the community in 2018, Ayati used to be the premier source of cassava and rice for the rest of Nigeria, he explained:
Until the commencement of attacks, kidnappings, and killings by Fulani Jihadists five years ago, Ayati was a bustling commercial city, as at least more than 10 trailers were loading yams from Ayati to most parts of Nigeria on a daily basis.
Now, Ayati says, the growing number of displaced farmers in Ayati, and throughout the Benue State, is projected to result in hunger across the region.
“The lands of Sai, Chito, Upi, and Borikyo, once thriving farming communities, have been seized and occupied by Fulani terrorists,” Truth Nigeria reported, noting that “the entire population of Ayati has been displaced due to relentless attacks by these terrorists.”
Ayati told Truth Nigeria that the federal government has largely ignored cries for help, only sending 12 men from the Mobile Police Force Unit to defend against Fulani terrorists, who arrive to attack in large numbers, armed with Ak-9s.
He did note, however, that the Benue State government has been “doing what it can to stop terrorist influx and attacks.”
“But for now,” Truth Nigeria concluded, “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.”
