On Sunday 15 September, Rev Bernard Gajere (pictured), an Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) pastor, was kidnapped during an attack on Bakinpah-Maro village in Kajuru county in southern Kaduna state. Fulani herdsmen attacked an ECWA congregation and a Roman Catholic church during Sunday morning worship services at about 10am, killing three Christians and abducting the pastor and thirty other Christians, according to local residents.
An eyewitness said, “When the bandits arrived in large numbers, many worshippers fled the church. It was a horrendous sight. We were helpless as we watched the bandits wreak havoc.”
“The community is in shock, and we urge the authorities to take immediate action to rescue the kidnapped victims,” said Cafra Caino, the former chairman of Kajuru county.
The attack happened almost exactly two years after gunmen abducted 43 residents, including many worshippers from a church service, in a raid on another community in Kajuru county.
Christians continue to suffer attacks on churches and communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. In the vast majority of cases, the attackers are Islamist Fulani militants, though they are often described misleadingly in media reports as “bandits”.
Two killed working on farm
On 19 September, Audu Bala and Jonathan Moses were working on their farms when Fulani herdsmen waylaid them and shot at them. The two Christian men died instantly in the attack on Kurmin-Kare village, a predominantly Christian community in Kachia county in southern Kaduna state according to an eyewitness.
A week earlier, Christian farmer Japheth Zarma Yakubu was kidnapped while working on his farm in the village. The attackers later phoned his family and demanded a ransom of 30 million naira (€16,637).
Five killed in attack on health centre
On 9 September, suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked the Primary Health Care Clinic in predominantly Christian Kallah Afogo village, Kajuru county, killing at least five Christians and kidnapping dozens of others.
Benjamin Maigari, a local community leader, identified those killed as Garkuwa Alfarma, Buhari Maidiga, Uba Auta, Yakubu Gaku and Atabata Naallah.
Local reports state that the terrorists first visited a government secondary school in the community and resorted to attacking the hospital instead when they found the school empty. Locals have attributed the attack to the Ansaru Terror Group, an Al-Qaeda affiliated group that has troubled the area.
Hassan Mansur, spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, confirmed the attacks in the areas and said officers and other security agency personnel were attempting to rescue those abducted.
August 2024 – summary of attacks
2 Aug Three churches (Living Faith Church, Deeper Life Bible Church and the Power of Resurrection Church) were attacked and vandalised in Doura, Katsina state.
2 Aug Pastor Ezekiel Tunji Ola Falade, an associate pastor with the Peaceway Baptist Church, Aje-Iya area, Ogbomoso, Oyo state was seriously injured by machetes in an ambush by Fulani militants.
8 Aug A Catholic church was attacked during mass in Benue state.
10 Aug The Redeemed Christian Church of God Champion Zonal Headquarters (pictured) in Kantagora, Niger state, was set on fire at around 3am in an attack by “hoodlums”. Associate Pastor Samson Ogbebor said, “I got a distress call that our church was on fire, and on getting there I met a church being burned down and properties therein looted by hoodlums. This church has faced lots of challenges – about ten years ago, some Muslim hoodlums came and burnt it down completely, and through self-efforts we were able to rebuild the worship sanctuary.”
11 Aug Pastor Peter Shebayan was killed in an attack at his mission station in Katul Crossing, Zango Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna state
15 Aug Twenty Catholic school students were attacked and kidnapped on their way to conference in Benue state. Security forces rescued the students on 23 August.
15 Aug Anglican minister Rev Bitrus Inusa, serving in the local church at Ikara in Kaduna state, was kidnapped.
In August, the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) published a 136-page report covering the four-year period from October 2019 to October 2023, detailing killings and abductions of Christians in terms of geographical location and aggressor. It showed that over 16,000 Christians were killed in targeted violence in the four year period.
(Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, Stefanos Foundation, Barnabas Aid, Ogbomoso Insight)
Images: Rev Bernard Gajere (Facebook), Redeemed Christian Church of God building (Stefanos Foundation)