Attack in Nigeria that Killed 18 Christians, Caps Two Years of Islamic Aggression
Muslim Fulani herdsmen suspected in another deadly assault in the area
By Dan Wooding, who was born in Nigeria
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
MILE BAKWAI, NIGERIA
(ANS) -- Morning Star News (
http://morningstarnews.org)
is reporting that an attack in Nigeria that killed 18 Christians has
capped two years of Islamic aggression. It says that Muslim Fulani
herdsmen are suspected in another deadly assault in the area.
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Farmer Hosea Mashaf rushed from a neighboring village to aid Christians under attack
(Morning Star News photo)
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The news agency's
Nigeria correspondent wrote that Hosea Mashaf was resting in his village
of Chirang Mangor, Nigeria, when area Christian youths told him that
armed, Muslim Fulani herdsmen were attacking the Christian village of
Mile Bakwai.
The
45-year-old farmer and other Christians rushed to Mile Bakwai, three
kilometers away in the Bokkos Local Council Area of Plateau State, the
night of March 27 to see how they might aid the Christians there, he
told Morning Star News.
"When
we got there, the gunmen had already retreated," Mashaf said. "I saw
dead bodies scattered all over the village. I counted the dead bodies we
recovered, and in all we had 18 Christians who were killed by the
Muslim attackers."
They found five of those bodies in a minibus, he said.
"They
were travelling in a bus back to our village when they ran into the
attack going on at Mile Bakwai village," Mashaf said. "They were killed
by the attackers when they shot at the bus, which crashed into a
building, but the attackers went to the place where the bus was and shot
the occupants. Five of them were killed, while two others were
injured."
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Fulani herdsmen on the rampage
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Dead were Geofrey
Mafuyai, 35; Mahana Jamok, 50; Arandon Yusuf, 18; Dung Dalyop, 38; and,
Mbata Machif, 36. Maju Mahana, 25, and Nanle Enoch, 18 were wounded and
received treatment at the ECWA Evangel Hospital in Jos, he said.
The 18
slain were members of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, Christ Apostolic
Church and Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) congregations, sources
said. The Rev. James Danladi Mahwash of the Bishara Baptist Church in
Mile Bakwai village said five of his church members were killed,
including the financial secretary of the Men's Missionary Union of his
church, 25-year-old Jamle Benjamin Sunday.
"At
about 8 p.m. the attackers, all Muslim Fulani herdsmen, came into this
village in two separate groups, attacking us from two different
directions, and shooting down anyone they saw," he said. "They came from
the northwestern end of the village, and then separated into two groups
with one of the groups attacking from the western end, while the second
group attacked from the eastern end."
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The Rev. James Danladi Mahwash baptizing Jamle Benjamin Sunday, who was killed in the attack in Mile Bakwai, Nigeria
(Morning Star News photo)
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The Morning Star
Nigerian correspondent continued by saying that besides Sunday, Mahwash
said, among those killed were Kokiwo Malo, 65; Maren Galadima, 18; Gambo
Geofrey Mafuyai, 45; Adamu Maren, 55; Zoron Adamu, 10; Maren Garba, 20;
Danladi Mangar, 20; Joel Peter, 20; Boaz Masara, 20; Oge Emeka, 5; and
one identified only as Jang from the neighboring village of Kunet.
The
assailants also burned the houses of three Christians - Malo Kabu,
Marion Bitrus and Mapu Daniel - in Mile Bakwai, "Seventh Mile" in the
Hausa language as it is about seven miles from the main mining camp at
Tenti village. Mile Bakwai is a former mining camp in the rocky hills of
the Jos Plateau, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Jos.
In several previous attacks, the herdsmen robbed the 150-member church of about 211,000 naira (US$1315), Mahwash added.
"We
believe that our attackers are Muslim Fulani herdsmen," he said. "We
know they have been attacking Christian communities in rural areas
across central Nigerian states. We are not happy about this and feel
that the Nigerian government has to do something urgently to curtail
these attacks in order to save lives and restore peace in the northern
part of this country."
More Than 100 Slain
The correspondent
went on to say that ethnic Fulani Muslims are believed to have the
backing of Islamic extremist groups in attacks on Christian areas in
central and northern Nigeria. The Rev. Barnabas Kebang, chairman of the
Bokkos Regional Church Council of COCIN, said the attack on Mile Bakwai
was one of numerous assaults against Christians in the area.
"Since the year 2011, over 100 Christians have been killed here," he said.
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Grave for 15 of the victims of the assault
in Mile Bakwai
(Morning Star News photo)
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Christian communities
attacked include those in the villages of Mushu, Tsohon Mushu, Marish,
Ruboi, Wumat, Magi, Gada Biyu, Batish, Butura Gida, Pyakmalu, Mper,
Ruwi, Chenget, Njukkudel and Washen, Kebang said.
Kebang,
who as chair of the regional church council over 46 COCIN pastors
oversees about 11,000 church members, was blunt about the identity of
the culprits.
"Muslim Fulani herdsmen are responsible for these attacks," he said.
After
attacking Christian communities, Fulani herders "usually go out there
to dish out false information to the world through their Islamic backers
in the Middle East, using the Western press," Kebang said. As result,
he said, international press tend to misrepresent Muslim aggression as
"sectarian conflict," especially when Christians try to defend
themselves.
Security
agencies reported arresting six of the dozens of Muslims who attacked
Mile Bakwai, but said five of those were killed during gun-battle during
between the assailants and law enforcement forces, Kebang said. Reports
he received from the Special Task Force created to stem violence
indicated one of the Muslim attackers said 46 attackers participated in
the assault on Mile Bakwai.
Kebang said the attack displaced nearly 500 Christians.
"We
have about 140 of our church members displaced in this particular
attack, and you can see them right here in the church premises," Kebang
said from his office in Bokkos in mid-April. "About 300 other Christians
displaced in the attack are right now at the St. Thomas Catholic Church
here in Bokkos, and another group of about 13 are camped at the Christ
Apostolic Church also here in Bokkos town."
Sultan Unheeded
The Morning Star
News Nigeria correspondent stated that besides hit-and-run attacks by
Fulani Muslims, the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group has targeted
Christians in Nigeria in its effort to destabilize the government and
impose sharia (Islamic law) nationwide. The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu
Sa'ad Abubakar II, considered the leader of Nigeria's Muslims, has
called for a halt to attacks on Christians, but Kebang said area Muslims
either deny or don't know of the directive.
"In
different forums where we have met to dialogue with Muslim leaders here
in Plateau state, we have heard Muslim and Fulani leaders saying
bluntly that they will not listen to anyone or act in a peaceful manner
until the Sultan of Sokoto directs," he said.
Sokoto is the base of the Caliphate, a Fulani oligarchy established centuries ago.
The
sultan also recently called on the Nigerian government to grant amnesty
to Boko Haram, but the Islamic extremist sect's leader, Abubakar
Shekau, has rejected the idea, claiming the group has not committed any
crime warranting amnesty.
"Christians
make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria's population of 158.2 million and live
mainly in the south, while Muslims account for 45 percent and reside
primarily in the north, according to Operation World," concluded the
correspondent.
